WOWOWA’s Monique Woodward: Creating Joy

Melbourne architecture firm WOWOWA is all about joy.

It permeates not only their design aesthetic but also the way they do business—a big shift away from the norm. 

The 13-year-old architecture practice is a B-Corp certified business with a focus on designing fun, colourful, sustainable and livable spaces for people. 

WOWOWA co-founder Monique Woodward spoke to The Urban Developer ahead of her presentation at Urbanity 2023 later this month and says it was no easy feat to achieve the certification. 

“We used our B-Corp certification as a roadmap to grow from a small to a medium scale practice. It informs our values-based approach to business,” Woodward said. 

The female-led studio is one of the architecture firms signed on for Nightingale Village 2 at Hope Street at Brunswick, alongside Hayball, Lian Architects, Kennedy Nolan, and Nelson Murcutt and Neille Architects slated for the project.

“We love designing for families, whether it’s single dwellings or vertical neighbourhoods, residential design is in our DNA,” she said. 

“We’re on the cutting edge around advocacy and thought leadership in sustainability. Getting our B-Corp certification as a smaller practice opened the floodgates for other practices to follow suit.”

▲ Designing homes for families is in their DNA, according to WOWOWA co-founder Monique Woodward.

But the firm is also making waves in other areas. 

“With trusted clients, we’ve started charging an hourly rate instead of a fee. 

“We just got a town planning permit through using this model—it ended up being probably a similar amount but it invites huge clarity on brief and ambitions from the outset so there's a lot less rework.

“It takes trust and mutual respect, but we really need that in the industry now. And we wanted to honour that trust (from our client) and reciprocated that with speed. It brings a fresh energy. 

“It’s one trend that I would really like to change … reframing that relationship between architect and developer to allow for appropriate compensation of time and energy—especially as the zeitgeist shifts towards ethics and sustaibability in housing. From the outset, we establish what success looks like for both of us. 

“At the end of the day it’s not really about the money, we want to love what we do, we want to be relevant, and we want to have a good life. And what we’re doing is showing that it can be profitable to show up in a different way.”

Woodward said architects were increasingly looking to take on work that’s “values based and ethically aligned because it’s more meaningful”.

“If you’re going to take on such sweeping risks associated with development, you want it to be for a good outcome – an outcome everyone in the team is proud of.

“And ultimately allowing space to achieve larger ambitions for all projects to improve health and well-being of Country.”

And while designing homes is in the studio’s DNA, Woodward said they had been riding the wave of education and public works infrastructure recently. 

▲ WOWOWA has diversified into designing playful spaces in the education sector, including the Hampton Park SC Senior Learning Centre.

The firm had been slated to join the lineup on Nightingale Village 1 but the site was sold back to the council for a pocket park. 

Woodward will join Nightingale chief executive Dan McKenna and Kennedy Nolan principal Victoria Reeves on stage to unpack the Nightingale Village journey at The Urban Developer’s flagship conference, Urbanity 23, later this month.