Our World
Paper Boats Architects is a Melbourne based practice committed to creating thoughtful and responsive architecture, centred on the belief that meaningful architecture incorporates the political, social and climatic responsibilities of environments.
We engage with the character of each site, extending design to reflect this in tandem with our clients’ ideas and needs, to create interactive, multifaceted architecture capable of adapting purpose and functionality based on each site's ecosystem, to enrich both place and community.
Paper Boats Architects
Paper Boats Architects has always existed as a concept and found its formal expression in 2024. Our name is rooted in a childhood memory of transforming a simple sheet of paper into a three-dimensional form and watching it drift along streams created by the monsoon rains in the garden, observing how a piece of paper could be transformed into something that interacted with the world around it. As such, it reflects our identity and how we approach design in the same way that we adapt to and engage with our environment.
We are not defined by a single geography. We embrace opportunities both local and those that take us across seas and borders, allowing us to collaborate with diverse communities and contribute to projects that create lasting and transformative impact. Over the past two years, our work has extended across the Australasian-Pacific region to as far as Africa, shaping projects that respond thoughtfully to their unique environments and contexts. Each project we undertake is an opportunity to listen, learn, and create architecture that is connected to people and place, so that spaces are responsive, inclusive, and deeply connected to the people who inhabit them.
The projects currently featured on our website are ongoing works in progress. As our practice continues to grow and evolve, we will regularly update to share insights into our thinking, design methodology, and the stories behind our work.
Manju Balasubramaniam | Director
Bachelor of Architecture | Victoria University of Wellington
Manju’s diverse architectural career spans the Australasian Pacific region and Africa with a portfolio that includes large-scale refurbishments, multi-residential and high-end residential, commercial, educational, industrial and community focused projects.
For Manju, every project is an opportunity to create positive change within built environments, to transform and enrich the communities we inhabit. Through thoughtful design, Manju’s architecture strengthens connections between people, environmental and social ecosystems by considering design that prioritises relationships and cross-functionality.
Architectural Interests:
Acupuncture Architecture:
· [Macro Level] Injecting vitality into urban spaces applying environmental methodology.
· [Micro Level] Applying environmental methodology to interior spaces to the ways people experience and inhabit space.
Architecture Reconstruction:
· Re-imagining and adapting existing spaces to meet evolving needs.
Architectural Re-presentation:
· Exploring innovative ways of communicating architectural ideas through drawings.
