James Legge

Background

About James Legge

As one of the founding directors of Six Degrees Architects, I have helped develop our practice into a nationally recognised design firm over the past 35 years. A seminal project for us in the early '90s was Meyers Place Bar, Melbourne’s first back lane bar, which, along with other urban and hospitality projects, significantly influenced the city's fine-grain urban design. Six Degrees is renowned for engaging and rich designs in hospitality, multi-residential, tertiary education, civic fields, urban design, place-making, and precinct development. Our practice continually explores ideas around human needs, community, raw materiality, and memory. I have taught at the University of Melbourne, delivered guest lectures nationally and internationally, and served on numerous AIA awards juries. I am a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Architects and sit on their housing committee. I sit on the Human Research and Ethics Committee for the Eye & Ear Hospital, was a founding member of the Nightingale Housing Board, serve on the Melbourne City Council Design Review Panel, and am a panel member of the Office of Victorian Government Architect Design reviews. I also sit on the Buildings & Grounds committee for Melbourne Grammar School. My ongoing interests lie in urban design, the street interface, planning policy development, and in exploring different housing models within the Australian context and how they can best foster community. I have led many of Six Degrees' medium and high-density residential projects with this approach.