Kate Fitzgerald founded Whispering Smith in 2011 and describes it as a staunchly feminist architecture firm with a focus on new approaches to millennial housing, sustainability, local craft and friendly minimalist architecture.

Kate is well known in the Australian small practice scene for the way she helps other small practices grow their business, become more profitable and equitable.  Whether it’s her role on the WA committee of the Association of Consulting Architects, her contributions to State Government planning policy, or co-founding the Business of Small Practice forum in WA - Kate is a vital resource for other small practices.

Over the last year Kate has started a new podcast called In Detail with Mick Moloney and Warwick Mihaly, where the three architects have frank discussions about the challenges of running small architecture practices.

Kate has also recently launched a sister brand called New Resident, which is a delivery model for ‘ready-made architecture’, a range of affordable house designs on hand-picked urban infill sites.

In this conversation, Kate and I talk about the value of the value of giving back to the profession, knowing your why, being a team rather than the unique genius, establishing a healthy relationship with your clients, identifying the right clients and saying no to the bad ones.

If you’d like to learn more about Kate, you can visit whisperingsmith.com.au or follow her on Instagram at whisperingsmitharchitecture.

You can also check our New Resident and newresident.com.au and listen to the In Detail podcast at indetail.show.