About Peter
“I embrace the idea that the freehand drawing is the best way to express design intent. The drawing reveals the rich relationship between an idea in your head and the realisation of ideas as a design for others to see and understand.”
Peter Richards is an architect and urban designer and a recent principal of Archipelago Architects, a South-East Queensland based multi-disciplinary design practice, after being a founding director in 1994, of Deicke Richards. He is a highly respected urbanist recognised for his strategic thinking, design leadership, advice and design skills. He is well known and sought after for his collaborative design abilities and has contributed to over 120 design workshops throughout Australia over the last 25 years. He has a particular interest in the role of drawing in the design process that the workshop process fosters.
In his work, he combines practice with teaching and research. He has regularly tutored since graduation, and in the early 1990s taught for two years at Hull School of Architecture in the UK. He was an adjunct professor in the QUT School of Design from 2003 to 2020, serving as a practitioner member of the Centre for Subtropical Design, and between 2013 and 2015 served as a fractional professor of design. He regularly contributes to teaching in the architecture and planning programs at a number of universities..