John Wardle is one of Australia’s most well-known architects. Wardle is the owner and founder of John Wardle Architects, a highly commended architecture practice operating across three different Australian states. The portfolio of John Wardle Architects spans a diverse range of project types including commercial, residential, government, and educational.

John Wardle architects has two Australian studios, one in Sydney and one in Melbourne. He is recognised as one of the best architects Melbourne and JWA is one of the only Melbourne architecture firms with an international outreach. JWA team of more than 100 design professionals is committed to creating spaces that matter, a mission statement which has received global commendation.

Projects by John Wardle Architects are celebrated as creative, innovative, and exploratory. JWA has a special focus on client-architect relationships and will work tirelessly to ensure a client’s creative vision is realised.

John Wardle: Personal life

John Wardle was born just outside of Melbourne in Geelong, 1956. He lived in Geelong for most of his early years, living there throughout his teenage years during the 1970s. His childhood home was a house overlooking the Barwon River, and Wardle has said that his passion for architecture was first ignited when watching the process of his next-door-neighbour’s house being built.

Wardle studied architecture at RMIT, graduating with a bachelors degree in 1981 and returning almost 20 years later to secure his masters. During this time he made a name for himself as an independent practitioner, which lay the groundwork for the development of his own practice. He also successfully authored his own architecture book, This Building Likes Me (available here from Booktopia for $57.25).

John Wardle now lives in Kew, Melbourne with his wife Susan Wardle. Their two-storey house has been shortlisted for multiple design awards over the past decade that they have owned it. The home has been renovated multiple times and is something of a passion project for the Wardles.

As their children – now independent adults – grew and changed, the Wardle residence did too. Since their last kid left the nest, John Wardle reworked the home to repurpose the playroom space into a study room. Read more about the gorgeous John Wardle house and its ever-shifting renovations here.

John Wardle’s portfolio includes some of the most iconic buildings in Australian urban design. Here are just a few of many highlights.

John Wardle architects: The 19 most impressive buildings by John Wardle

19. Monash library

JWA has overseen a huge revamp of the Monash University’s Caulfield campus in Melbourne, Victoria. The Caulfield library in particular is one of the key projects in this area. JWA turned the raw brick building into an open, light-filled structure while keeping its brutalist roots intact.

18. Westfield Sydney

John Wardle beat out many international competitors with their design of this iconic commercial centre in the heart of Sydney’s CBD. Pedestrian bridges of this building join to another John Wardle building, 85 Castlereagh Street, which shows the scope of influence JWA has on Sydney architecture.

17. Flinders Street station

A marvel of modern architecture, this industrialist building mimics the surrounding Yarra riverscape with its flowing curves and reflective service. It is one of Australia’s finest stations to date.

16. Epworth Freemasons

The unique design of Epworth Freemasons cancer centre reflects the cutting-edge nature of the health services performed inside. The concept of this building was informed by its East Melbourne surroundings, imbuing the structure with a sense of character and personality.

15. Jeffery Smart

Another one of John Wardle’s many ground-breaking educational designs, the Jeffery Smart Building provides an active learning centre with a diverse range of educational facilities such as a library, green common, central courtyard, and many different teaching and learning spaces.

14. Lake Wendouree

This luxurious private residence features a myriad of pavilions, courtyards and gardens that draw inspiration from the civic heart of Ballarat, Lake Wendouree.

13. Northumberland

This stunning 12-storey office building and its accompanying 6 storey companion building are planned for Melbourne’s Collingwood suburb.

12. Conservatorium of music

Another competition swept by John Ward Architects, this design for the University of Melbourne’s new Conservatorium of Music won $105 million dollars for development. The conservatorium was relocated from its Parkville home to the newly revamped Southbank Ian Potter Centre.

11. Yarra bend

This private residence is all bout forging a connection with the unpredictable beauty of a harsh Australian riverscape.

10. Freshwater place

Freshwater place apartment finds its home on the fifty sixth floor of a building in Melbourne’s CBD. It has received multiple commendations for the AIDA and IDEA awards since 2017.

09. Eastern Freeway

This passenger bridge over Melbourne’s busy inner-east freeway provides a bold realignment of what overpass bridges ought to do in modern society; serve a function, yes, but also make a statement.

08. 500 Bourke St

This A Grade office tower located in the heart of Melbourne’s CBD has been given a complete glass and steel transformation by John Wardle Architects since its 1978 construction.

07. Jane foss Russell building

This building was crucial to uniting the University of Sydney’s Camperdown and Darlington campuses above City Road, with an artful bridge providing easy and safe access to either side. It is attached to another John Wardle design, Usyd’s iconic Sci-Tech library.

06. 271 Spring Street Melbourne

This major office building on the number one street in Melbourne’s CBD presents a modern spin on traditional architecture.

05. The shearing shed

This gorgeous structure accompanies a historic cottage on a working sheep farm in Bruny Island, Tasmania. It has received several prestigious awards including both national and Tasmanian AIA awards.

04. Melbourne School of Design

Another competition winning design, this proposal for the Melbourne School of Design won the Daryl Jackson award for Educational Architecture at the national AIA awards in 2015.

03. Sydney Tower

Is there anything so iconic in the expanse of Sydney’s skyscape as the Sydney tower? John Wardle Architects beat out international competitors for the chance to design Sydney’s thirty storey commercial tower.

02. Aurizon Sydney

The cutting edge modernist figure of the Aurizon Headquarters carves a space for itself in the busy landscape of Fortitude Valley, Brisbane.

01. Bowral library

Also known as Bowral Conservatory, this design won the Southern Highlands Botanic Gardens competition to design the visitors’ centre. Affectionately nicknamed the ‘secret garden,’ this design melds architecture and nature with a beautiful design that mimics the structure of the surrounding trees and gardens.