About SDS

Design should feel personal.

Shalala Design Studio is an independent design studio focused on creating considered spaces shaped around the people who inhabit them.

The Studio

A considered
approach to design.

SDS was established from a belief that the experience of designing a home should be open, honest and genuinely personal.

Rather than approaching each project with a predetermined solution, SDS takes the time to understand the people behind it, how they live, what matters to them and what they want their home to become.

Every project is treated individually. The result is not simply a response to a site or brief, but a design shaped around the people who will ultimately inhabit it.

Design Philosophy

Spaces shaped by people,
place and purpose.

Context

Understanding the site, orientation, surrounding environment and existing conditions.

Light + Ventilation

Using natural light, ventilation and orientation as fundamental elements of the design.

Materiality

Selecting materials for their character, performance, longevity and relationship to place.

Function

Creating spaces that work intuitively and respond to the way people actually live.

Connection

Creating meaningful relationships between people, home, landscape and place.

Vernacular

Drawing from local materials, forms and ideas where they can create a stronger connection to place.

Understanding the site, orientation, surrounding environment and existing conditions.

Using natural light, ventilation and orientation as fundamental elements of the design.

Selecting materials for their character, performance, longevity and relationship to place.

Creating spaces that work intuitively and respond to the way people actually live.

Creating meaningful relationships between people, home, landscape and place.

Drawing from local materials, forms and ideas where they can create a stronger connection to place.

The Founder

A home should feel like it belongs to the people who live in it.

Joshua Shalala

Founder & Lead Designer

SDS was founded by Joshua Shalala with a belief that good design begins with understanding people, not simply property.

Joshua holds undergraduate and postgraduate design qualifications, including a Master's degree with a focus on Urban Transformation. His professional experience spans residential and commercial projects, from early design and planning through to detailed documentation and delivery.

His approach balances creative thinking with practical and technical resolution. Each project is shaped by a close consideration of materiality, natural light, ventilation, orientation and the relationship between a home and the people who inhabit it.

Through SDS, Joshua offers a personal and transparent design experience built around genuine collaboration. Clients are involved throughout the process, with each decision clearly considered and connected to the way they want to live.