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SOL Elements, Tamborine Mountain QLD
Remarkable places, designed for life
Signature home designs and unique commercial projects, from first concept to construction drawings, Australia-wide.
Winner · National Design Excellence Award · BDAA 2026
Three national awards in 2026
National Design Excellence Award
SOL Elements
Commercial Buildings
SOL Elements
New Residential Buildings ($1.51m to $1.99m)
Nero
Building Designers Association of Australia, National Design Awards 2026
Every detail answers its site
Design Artisan is a building design studio on Tamborine Mountain in Queensland's Scenic Rim, designing custom homes, acreage homesteads and unique commercial projects across Australia.
A little magic in every brief, from first concept to final drawing.
Designing and documenting since 2006
SOL Elements
A retreat drawn around water, fire, earth and wind.
The brief called for a retreat people would travel for. The site, once a helicopter landing pad, sits beside a billabong on Tamborine Mountain, with a planning restriction that kept the use area under 200 square metres.
We drew the building as a circle made of sixteen sides. The radial plan gathers communal onsens, a salt cave, a float room, private suites and treatment rooms around a shared centre, controlling views and movement so ritual, privacy and company each have their place.
- Recognition
- National Design Excellence Award and Commercial Buildings, BDAA National Design Awards 2026
- Use area
- Under 200 m²
- Plan
- Sixteen-sided, radial
- Program
- Onsens, salt cave, float room, private suites, treatment rooms
SOL Elements, Tamborine Mountain QLD. Designed by Design Artisan.
Nero
Seven metres of fall, turned into the view.
Nero sits on a 967 square metre block that drops seven metres towards rural views. From the street it reads as a restrained single storey, keeping the neighbours' outlook intact.
Walk through and the house opens into two full storeys at the rear. Five bedrooms, three bathrooms, a study and an activity room gather around open living and a central void, with a curved balustrade above. Charred timber cladding sits over a grounded concrete base.
- Recognition
- New Residential Buildings ($1.51m to $1.99m), BDAA National Design Awards 2026
- Site
- 967 m², seven metre fall
- Home
- 406 m², five bedrooms, three bathrooms
- Builder
- Lancaster Homes
Nero, Estella NSW. Designed by Design Artisan. Built by Lancaster Homes. Photography Threefold Studio.
Agnes Street
A complete transformation, true to its traditional roots.
We kept the traditional character that made this house worth saving, and reshaped everything around it into a home designed for the way a family lives today.
Agnes Street, Tamborine Mountain QLD. Designed by Design Artisan.
We don't do the everyday.
The same budget can build something ordinary or something remarkable. The difference is the design. We take on a select number of projects each year, so each one has the studio's full attention.
Signature homes
New homes as individual as the people who live in them, from acreage homesteads and hillside sites to coastal residences. Each one shaped around its land, its light and the way you live.
Destinations and retreats
Wellness, hospitality and tourism buildings that give people a reason to make the trip, from first concept through to approval.
Homes reimagined
Existing homes reshaped, extended and opened to light and outlook, so the new feels as if it was always there.
From first conversation to final drawing
Five stages, with a tailored proposal before we begin.
Listen
We walk the site with you, in person or by video, and learn what the place and the brief are asking for.
Imagine
Concept plans and artist impressions bring the big ideas, and a little magic, to life before any detail is spent.
Refine
Plans, elevations and materials resolved together, with your builder and engineer brought in where known.
Document
Construction drawings resolved to the last detail, with energy rating and approvals coordinated.
Stand by
We stay close through tender and construction, answering questions as they arise.
A small studio with a national record
Design Artisan has designed and documented homes from Tamborine Mountain since 2006. Builders right across Australia work from our drawings, which is why our documentation is written for the people who read it on site.
SOL Elements and Nero were designed in the Design Artisan studio.
Member, Building Designers Association of Australia. QBCC licence 15124173.
Recognised nationally
Three national awards in a single night in Canberra, alongside Queensland's Best Residential Building Design Practice.
- National Design Excellence AwardSOL Elements
- Commercial BuildingsSOL Elements
- New Residential Buildings ($1.51m to $1.99m)Nero, built by Lancaster Homes
- Best Residential Building Design Practice, QueenslandDesign Artisan
Builders recognised in 2026 for the construction of homes designed by Design Artisan.
- Aristella House, MaccaBuiltBest Residential Kitchen and Individual Home from $900,000 up to $1.25 million, Master Builders Downs and Western Region
- Sirius, Lancaster HomesHIA Riverina Country Home
- Liora, Corbett HomesIndividual Home from $900,000 up to $1.25 million, Master Builders Central Queensland
- Oakspire, Corbett HomesIndividual Home up to $450,000, Master Builders Central Queensland
Questions we're asked first
Who is Design Artisan?
Design Artisan is an award-winning building design studio based on Tamborine Mountain, Queensland. Founded in 2006, we design and document custom homes and selected commercial projects across Australia. Our work won the 2026 BDAA National Design Excellence Award.
Where do you work?
Our studio is on Tamborine Mountain in the Scenic Rim, about an hour from Brisbane and the Gold Coast. We design projects across Queensland and New South Wales and further afield, meeting clients on site or by video. Nero, our 2026 award-winning home, is in Estella in the NSW Riverina.
Do you build?
No. We design and document. You choose your builder, or we can introduce builders who already know our drawings.
Do you take on commercial projects?
Yes, and they are some of our favourite briefs. We design commercial projects people travel for: retreats, wellness and hospitality venues, tourism destinations and places to gather. SOL Elements, our bath house on Tamborine Mountain, won both Commercial Buildings and the overall National Design Excellence Award at the 2026 BDAA National Design Awards.
What does design cost?
Every project is different, so fees depend on its scale and complexity. After a first conversation about your site and brief, we send a tailored proposal outlining the scope and fees.
Tell us about your project
A few details about the site and the brief help us come back to you with something useful. We'll be in touch to arrange a first conversation.
Prefer to talk? Call 1300 977 778
We only use your details to reply to your enquiry. We never share them.
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