Permanent Residence: Robson Rak on designing homes that endure

The book is organised around guiding themes rather than project-by-project. What made you want to structure it that way?

We wanted to give readers an insight into the principles and philosophies behind our work, rather than simply present a chronological catalogue of projects. Organising the book house by house would have been the more obvious solution, but it would not have revealed the ideas that connect our work across the past twenty years.

Structuring it around eight themes, First Impressions, Light, Simplicity, Nature, Materials, Sculpture, Authenticity and Balance forced us to reflect more deeply on the guiding forces behind our designs. It allowed us to place very different homes in conversation with one another and demonstrate how the same principle can find entirely different expressions depending on the architecture, the client and the way they live.

It also reflects how we think as a practice. We do not approach a project as a predetermined style or a collection of individual rooms; we consider the qualities that will shape the experience of the whole home, how you arrive, how light enters, how materials feel, how nature is drawn inside, and how art and sculptural form create moments of discovery.

Balance is particularly important because it is what ultimately holds all these ideas together: old and new, simplicity and richness, architecture and interiors, restraint and expression. The thematic structure reveals that deeper continuity. The projects may look very different, but the ideas underpinning them—and the balance we seek between them—remain remarkably consistent.

You two lead different sides of the same practice (architecture and interiors) but the book talks about them as inseparable. In practice, where does one of your jobs end and the other begin?

They don’t, and that is fundamental to the way we practise. While Kathryn leads the architecture and Chris leads the interiors, the boundaries between those roles are deliberately fluid. Architecture, interiors, furniture, lighting, art, craft and landscape are considered together from the beginning, rather than as separate disciplines applied in sequence.

Every decision has an impact on the whole. The proportions of a room influence the furniture; the placement of a window affects where an artwork can sit; the material of a wall changes the way light is absorbed or reflected; and the landscape shapes views, privacy and the atmosphere of the interior. One discipline cannot be resolved without considering the others. 

There is something inherently Renaissance-like in this approach: a belief in the interconnectedness of the arts, the value of craftsmanship and the importance
of proportion, materiality, beauty and human experience. We are both involved across the design process, questioning, refining and influencing each other’s work. Our different areas of expertise give us distinct starting points, but we are always working towards the same outcome. 

For us, the best homes feel as though they were conceived as a complete world. The architecture does not stop at the walls, and the interior is not decoration added afterwards. They are inseparable parts of a single, coherent idea, one that extends from the structure of the house to the smallest object within it.

Evergreen House, photographed by Shannon McGrath

Kathryn, after two decades of practice, is there an instinct you trust now that you would have talked yourself out of earlier in your career?

It is actually closer to three decades, I graduated from architecture in 1996 and have run my own practice since 2004. To be honest, I’ve always trusted my instincts and had a strong belief in my ideas. What has changed is my confidence in communicating those instincts and asking clients to believe in them too.

Architecture often requires committing to something long before anyone can fully experience it: the proportion of a room, the placement of an opening, the way light will move through a space, or the decision to exercise restraint rather than add more. Earlier in my career, I may have felt a greater need to explain or justify every move. Now, experience allows me to recognise when something simply feels right and to stand behind it with clarity.

I have also been incredibly fortunate to work with clients who have trusted and backed our ideas and decision-making. That trust is a huge part of how Robson Rak has been able to create the buildings and spaces shown in the book. Our strongest projects have come from relationships where clients have given us the freedom to pursue an idea fully even when they cannot yet see exactly where it will lead. Instinct may begin the process, but mutual trust is what allows it to become architecture.

Chris, your background spans fine art as well as design - how does that show up in the way you think about materials, light or proportion in a space?

My background in fine art has given me a very hands-on understanding of how materials, light and proportion can shape the experience of a space. I’ve always enjoyed experimenting directly with finishes and textures seeing how they absorb, reflect or soften light, and how their character changes throughout the day. I’ve also spent many years creating objects myself and observed how their scale, form and placement can alter the atmosphere of a room.

That experience has taught me to think about an interior as a composition rather than simply a collection of finishes and furniture. Every element has a spatial impact: a feature light can alter a space by creating shadow and movement as well as illumination; a piece of furniture can anchor a room or affect the way people circulate through it; and a change in material can shift the emotional register of a space.

This thinking informs everything we do at Robson Rak, from the architecture and proportions of a room to our selection of stone, timber, lighting, furniture and art. We consider how these elements speak to one another and how they will be experienced over time. As explored throughout Robson Rak: Permanent Residence, art is never treated as something applied at the end. It is embedded in the spatial narrative, contributing colour, character, tension and sometimes humour. Ultimately, my fine-art background has encouraged me to trust instinct, embrace experimentation and understand that the most memorable spaces are not only seen, they are felt.

Pavillion House, photographed by Shannon McGrath

The book describes your idea of home as something that 'anchors us and moves beyond trend.' In a design world that moves fast, how do you make decisions that you're confident will still feel right in fifteen or twenty years?

Our shared experience of creating homes and living in and continually shaping our own home over the past twenty years has given us confidence in making decisions intended to endure. At the end of the day, if something is a genuinely good decision now, if it responds thoughtfully to the architecture, the people who live there and the way they want to live, it should remain a good decision well into the future.

We are conscious of trends, but we don’t allow them to drive the design. Instead, we focus on proportion, natural light, circulation and the relationship between spaces, because these are the qualities that fundamentally determine how a home feels. We also favour authentic, enduring materials, stone, timber, brick and metal, which gain character through use and age rather than needing to remain pristine.

Longevity does not mean creating something neutral or restrained. A home can be highly individual, colourful and expressive and still have permanence. In fact, the more closely it reflects its owners their art, furniture, histories and personalities the less likely it is to feel dated, because it was never created simply to capture a moment in fashion.

For us, permanence comes from clarity of thought rather than predictability. When every decision has a reason, and the architecture and interiors are conceived as one complete composition, a home can evolve with its occupants while retaining the strength of its original idea.

House on the Hill, photographed by Adam Gibson

If you had to describe what the other person brings to a room - literally, when you walk into a client meeting or a site visit - that you can't bring yourself, what would it be?

We bring very different rhythms to a room, and that contrast has become one of the strengths of our partnership.

Kathryn has an extraordinary instinct for space. She understands proportion, planning and circulation almost immediately and has a speed and clarity to her decision-making that keeps a project moving. She can walk into a room or look at a plan and quickly identify what is working, what isn’t and what needs to change.

Chris is often slower and more contemplative. He likes to give an idea time to percolate, allowing unexpected possibilities to emerge rather than resolving everything immediately. He also has an instinctive ability to imagine an object within a space whether it is a piece of furniture, an artwork, a light fitting or a sculptural element and understand how its scale, materiality and personality will affect the room around it.

Kathryn brings momentum and spatial rigour; Chris brings pause, layering and an eye for the object. One prevents the process from becoming stuck, while the other ensures it is not resolved too quickly. Our best work tends to emerge through that exchange, between decisiveness and reflection, architecture and object, the overall spatial idea and the finer details that give a home its character.

What does your own home look like day to day - is it like the immaculate, resolved spaces from the book or does it also have shoes and half-finished homework on the kitchen island like everyone else's?

It actually does look much like the resolved spaces in the book, but it‘s never static. Our home is constantly evolving, with new art, objects, furniture and foliage moving into and through the rooms. We see a home as an ongoing composition rather than something that is ever completely finished, and ours continues to reflect our interests, discoveries and changing lives.

Of course, with two teenage boys, there are also school bags, shoes and the usual evidence of family life scattered through the hall - although rarely for long, if Kathryn has her way.

The immaculate and the everyday are not really opposites for us. A welldesigned home should be able to absorb the messiness of life without losing its underlying sense of calm and order. The architecture provides a strong, resolved framework, while the people, art and objects give it energy and allow it to keep changing. That balance between permanence and evolution is very much at the heart of the book and of the way we live.

Robson Rak: Permanent Residence is available now.