No, we’re not being cryptic. EM BE CE is the name of a brand spanking new design practice — launching today, 8 June 2021 — forged by three of the brightest emerging architects Sydney has to offer, otherwise known as Mladen Prnjatovic (EM), Ben Green (BE) and Chi Melhem (CE). The new studio combines the trio’s collective experience in residential design, planning and urbanism, having honed their skills and rapport over more than a decade working together as directors at Tzannes.

(Left to right): Mladen Prnjatovic, Ben Green and Chi Melhem join as co-founders of EM BE CE, having spent over a decade working together as directors at Tzannes.

“We’re very lucky to have been part of the great team at Tzannes, and now we’re excited to take this next step as architects, collaborators and placemakers,” say Prnjatovic, Green and Melhem, in a statement as they embark on their new venture together.

Linchpin to EM BE CE is the philosophy that ‘good design is for everyone’. This ideal informs the research and thinking on every project that Prnjatovic, Green and Melhem encounter, regardless of scale.

“We love designing private residences and major city-changing projects equally,” says EM BE CE. “They’re different scales and challenges, but equally important for people’s wellbeing. And everything you design and build has an impact on its place, so it’s critical to get the balance right.”

Of equal importance to their shared values, Prnjatovic, Green and Melhem each bring their own juxtaposing strengths to EM BE CE. From intuitive, strategic thinking and technical expertise that unlocks opportunity, to a cut-through communication style informed by deep knowledge and global perspective. Around the table their contest of ideas pushes projects into new terrain, and often unexpected solutions.

Three of Sydney’s brightest emerging architects have joined forces to establish a new design practice, EM BE CE.

“Architecture is part science, part art. It has to be technically rigorous, but also uplifting. Great design dissolves barriers between the purely functional and the artistic,” Mladen Prnjatovic.

“It’s never about the project in isolation. It’s about how it fits into the bigger networks and broader picture of the city or landscape,” says Green.

“Good design is for everyone. It pushes beyond the initial question and turns constraints into opportunities to unlock creative solutions that can often be unexpected,” says Melhem.

EM BE CE opens its doors in a lofty warehouse space in Chippendale, Sydney, with over a dozen projects on the drawing board.

EM BE CE — you heard it here first.