Selected Works
Harare, Zimbabwe · 1991–1996
Mixed-use city centre · 55,000 m²
Lead architect for a 55,000 m² mixed-use city centre using passive environmental systems shaped to its sociocultural and economic context.
Melbourne, Australia · 2002–2005
Civic office · 10 storeys
Lead design architect for Melbourne City Council's municipal offices — architecture embedded in its site as an ecosystem is embedded in nature.
Project notes →Dongguan, China · 2009–present
36-storey research tower
A 36-storey laboratory tower for testing hydraulics, with a 90-metre chimney for measuring stack-effect ventilation in high-rise buildings.
Project notes →Dongguan, China · 2010–present
Communal dining · seats 100
Built from reused shipping containers. A wall of 12 °C cold water running across a screen dehumidifies the interior — beautifully — while a roof garden grows kitchen herbs.
Project notes →Dongguan, China · 2011–present
Residential · 120 people
A dormitory and apartment building structured from old shipping containers, based on the round house of the Hakka people of Hunan Province.
Project notes →Dongguan, China · 2011–present
Research greenhouse
In design development: a Yunnan Province rainforest recreated inside an ETFE bottle, developed in collaboration with Yunnan botanists and academics.
Project notes →Gippsland, Victoria, Australia · 2006–2009
Visitor centre
A visitor centre for Gippsland Water Factory, built on an artificial lake to demonstrate how the thermal capacity of water can act as a thermal store for a light structure.
Project notes →Harare, Zimbabwe · 2001–2002
500-seat theatre + drama and music school
The first building of its kind to be cooled with a rock-store system combined with three wind-driven turbines.
Project notes →Zolda, Belgium · 1998–2002
Environmental centre
Wind turbines extended Pearce's passive-cooling research from southern Africa into a northern European climate.
Project notes →Harare, Zimbabwe · 1989–1991
Religious · seats 1,000
A temple for Harare's small but lively Hindu community, seating up to 1,000 in the lotus position, built in corbelled brick in the northern Hindu style with a 60-metre stupa.
Project notes →Chinhoyi, Zimbabwe · 1990–1995
Hospital + staff housing + training school
In charge of inception, briefing and design for a new provincial hospital, including site planning, staff housing and the training school.
Project notes →University of Zimbabwe · 1986
Mixed-use campus building
Project architect for all stages on a Faculty of Agriculture building combining laboratories, lecture halls and offices.
Project notes →