Sydney welcomes established Residential and Mixed-Use leader

Studio News / Media / Culture 22 August 2025 Share

For new Principal Joseph Loh, housing is about much more than buildings. It’s about creating precincts where life happens: where living, working, recreation and community come together.

DesignInc is delighted to welcome Joseph Loh as Principal, bringing deep expertise and passion for shaping contemporary residential and mixed-use environments.

With a career spanning architecture, urban design and precinct planning, Joe has established a reputation for combining pragmatic design thinking with creative exploration. His experience includes over 17 years with prominent Australian design firms, BVN and SJB, where he gained early exposure to city-shaping policy and honed his creativity and values of playfulness in design.

‘Residential is no longer just about homes,’ Joe said. ‘It’s about mixed-use precincts where living, working and recreation all come together. In increasingly urbanised cities, people expect more out of their living environments. I’m interested in finding the right balance between all of the elements that compete for priority in our built environment whether that’s commercial, cultural or environmental. Resolving that complexity through neat, quality design is what excites me.’

Asked about the next frontier in housing, Joe’s response was classified as ‘potentially boring, but necessary’: construction technology.

‘Approvals are slow, but that is improving. Where we haven’t moved forward is how we actually build. We’re still relying on methods from hundreds of years ago in bricks, mortar, wheelbarrows and hammers.

‘There are solutions: prefabrication, modular systems, robotics. Modern methods of construction. But we’re not deploying them at scale, especially in the “middle band” of housing, four to twelve storey apartment buildings around transport nodes. That’s where innovation could dramatically improve quality, speed, and affordability, making housing accessible to more people.’

At DesignInc, Joe is eager to push design ambition further.

‘DesignInc has a strong baseline of delivery and a partnership with Indigenous-led practice Nguluway DesignInc that is truly shaping communities at all scales. That foundation creates the opportunity to explore the pointy end of design – challenging rules, testing new technologies, and creating better outcomes for people.’

Joe’s appointment strengthens DesignInc’s leadership in housing and precinct design, furthering the practice’s mission to design places that support connected, resilient and thriving communities.