Our Story
Why we exist
Artefact began on a family road trip through a Burmese countryside stricken with civil war, in a van that barely held together.
In that van, with war-torn landscapes rolling past, Steven — our founder and principal architect — began to wonder what it would take to design a world where people could grow up in places that uplift rather than limit them.
He was 17 when he realised that most people don't get to choose the environments they live, work, and grow up in — and how deeply that affects their lives.
That moment sparked a lifelong calling:
to help people shape their world with agency, meaning, and purpose.
After exploring paths from rebel soldier to doctor, Steven chose architecture. Not for the buildings, but for what they can do — bring people and communities closer together.
Decades later, that vision became Artefact: a purpose-driven architecture practice founded in Naarm/Melbourne on Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Country — shaped by a rich and unique yet all too familiar diasporic journey across cultures and continents — Burma, Singapore, India, Japan, China, Nepal, Finland, the Netherlands, the U.K., Indonesia, and Australia.
Our Leadership
Steven Chu — ARBV 18725 Registered Architect
Founding Director & Principal Architect — Artefact Architects
Connect with Steven on Linkedin →
With deep leadership experience in design, public service, education, and humanitarian work, Steven has led and contributed to more than $3B in built projects, including award-winning public architecture.
He served as Director at a National billion-dollar facilities management firm, as Director of Design and Board Member at an Australian charity delivering international humanitarian aid, and as the Principal Architect at a local government council in Victoria.
In parallel with practice, Steven has taught in the architecture programs at leading schools of architecture, including RMIT University and the University of Melbourne.
But Steven’s focus has never been just the buildings. It’s always been about how they shape the lives within and around them — and how, through architecture, we can build community.
Steven leads the Artefact team, which is a passionate and compassionate group of professionals working alongside a trusted network of planners, engineers, and builders. Together, we bring the focus and depth needed to explore the meaning of community, belonging, and legacy.
“
Hope is the belief in the plausibility of the possible
rather than the necessity of the probable.
Marshall Ganz
Rita E. Hauser Senior Lecturer in Leadership, Organizing, and Civil Society
Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University
What We Stand For
We believe what lacks functionality cannot be beautiful, and what lacks cultural or communal meaning cannot be truly functional.
This is the foundation of Artefact’s mission — to create a world with more agency, diversity and compassion. We do this by practising architecture that combines intentional optimism with cultural depth, transcending the conventional focus on function, data, and aesthetics.
Our work strives to address spatial inequality and cultural agency, to bridge cultural story, community identity, and spatial justice.
Artefact cares about creating environments that not only serve, but also shape. We nurture agency, belonging, and meaningful progress through spaces that honour diverse stories to help communities thrive.
Much has changed since that road trip in the Burmese countryside decades ago.
Two things remain the same.
We still believe in working towards a world with more agency, diversity, and compassion.
We still believe we can do this, together, through architecture.
How are your spaces shaping who you’re becoming?
Let’s create places that tell your story and strengthen your community →