‘So much of our work is about ideas of Melbourne. We all grew up here and we care about this place .’

James Legge is a storyteller, but his medium is building materials, not words.

As one of the six principals of acclaimed Melbourne architecture firm Six Degrees, his passion is for creating and revivifying buildings that have tales to tell. Six Degrees’ trademark is a friendly, diverse architecture, devising spaces where people want to be.

Their name was generated – and James insists this story is not apocryphal – when they were discussing possible monikers in their original Richmond premises and one of them glanced at the famous NYLEX clock atop the Punt Road silos which gave the temperature as six degrees. For six architects, all graduates but none registered, the name had special resonance.

‘Melbourne is a great city for architects,’ James says. ‘There is always vigorous debate about architecture in Melbourne, and more and more over the past few years the public has become involved in that discussion as well. People seem drawn towards the architecture of Six Degrees because it references materials everyone knows and has experienced. That connection to urban stories helps give our work a sense of familiarity. I think it’s a friendliness, in many ways.’

Favourite Day Trip
The Espy Hotel to watch the sunset (11 Esplanade Upper, St Kilda, 03 9534 0211, http://www.espy.com.au.

Favourite Food Experience
Queen Victoria Market at 7am on a midweek morning with my two-year old demanding food from stallholders – or ordering a Bratwurst on a hungover Saturday morning (Cnr Elizabeth and Victoria Streets, Melbourne, 03 9320 5822, qvm.com.au).

Favourite Object
An old brass wool bale stencil which we used for the ‘6’ in our logo.