Lovell Chen

The practice Principals are Kai Chen, Kate Gray, Peter Lovell, Adam Mornement, Anne-Marie Treweeke, Milica Tumbas and Katherine White.

Within 12 months of finishing postgraduate studies he went on to set up his own practice as a specialist in building conservation in Niagara Lane, Melbourne CBD.

This office consisted of a collaborative of young practices including Peter Elliot, Gary Boag and John McNabb, all able to support each other in the early days of establishment.

Commissions specialising in the interior such as finishes, paintwork and decorative work were achieved such as the Windsor Hotel, the Royal Exhibition Building, Parliament House, Princess Theatre, the Melbourne Town Hall and a number of defence projects including the fort at Queenscliff throughout the 80s and early 90s.

The same year Chen joined Lovell while they were working on major additions to Government House in Canberra and the Governor General's residence.

Until Chen joined, the practice had been mainly concerned with heritage consultancy and restorative commissions, and limited in the amount of architectural works.

In 2019, Lovell Chen completed further works, including major structural changes in the auditorium, bringing the Dress Circle closer to the stage and opening the foyer bars onto the rear of the Stalls, which has been re-raked - but you'd never know, as the interior detailing has been seamlessly replicated.

A series of projects have been undertaken at the State Library of Victoria in the last 20 years, including strategic planning, concept design for adaptive reuse and conservation works.

As part of ongoing strategic heritage work with Australia Post, Lovell Chen carried out a nation-wide survey of its properties.

[10] Lovell Chen created a new permanent home for Circus Oz, including trapeze rehearsal space, by adapting part of the former Collingwood Technical School.

The exterior of Melbourne's grand 19th century former General Post Office) was restored and conserved by Lovell Chen following severe fire damage to the building in 2001 and a change of use.

Conservation works to Bendigo's war memorial, home to a museum and the local club rooms of the RSL), plus a new pavilion/extension to the rear - viewed in the round in a parkland setting.

An L-shaped teaching building designed using Passive House principles, constructed on the site of tennis courts, which have been 'raised' to form the roof of the new structure.

Flexible open spaces lie between the monolithic exposed floor and roof slabs, the latter seemingly floating on minimal steel-cage columns.

Following the development of a master plan by Lovell Chen from which was derived a staged programme of works, Melbourne University’s Old Quad is being re-established as the centre of campus civic, cultural and ceremonial life.

[19] Lovell Chen developed a conservation framework, researching the original architects' theoretical approach to design and creating a heritage plan that embraces the capacity for change embedded in the conceptual rationale.