Category: Sustainability
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233: Using the Gifts of the Site to Create Healthy Resilient Homes
Living Shelter Architects is a design firm led by Terry Phelan in the Northwest of Washington State. The focus of their work is to provide healthy, resilient homes by combining natural materials with the “gifts of the site”. Terry took the “path less travelled” by choosing to apprentice instead of studying at university to become…
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232: Sustainable Opportunities
VCA Green provides green building consulting and commissioning. Their mission is to help clients achieve sustainability goals along with long-term cost savings. They seek out and provide ‘Sustainable Opportunities’. I spoke with Principal Moe Fakih about where buildings sometimes go wrong and how energy modelling, rating and commissioning can help. Green, but not green enough…
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231: Designing Light and Treading Lightly
How is overlighting of our internal environments, and overshading our cities, affecting our wellbeing? These are some of the things that Antony DiMase of DiMase Architects thinks about in his role as an Architect and as a conscientious member of modern society. During our chat, we discussed the role that architecture can play in making…
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229: Be Significant
The rural town of Goulburn sits between Canberra and Sydney in New South Wales, Australia. With a population of around 24,000, it may not be huge, but its location makes it significant. In 2004 Simon Croker established SC Design Solutions in the Goulburn. During our conversation, Simon shared his inspiration and ideas on how designers…
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228: The Shape of Sustainable Architecture
Architects shape the places where they work. Good Architects are also shaped themselves by their surrounding environment. For Chaney & Norman Architects, responding respectively to the natural environment of Central Otago is fundamental to their work. Living and working in Wanaka, Beth Chaney is very conscious of being part of a place that most people…
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225: Good Wood
After studying Japanese and international business, Daniel Gudsell’s plan was to go to Japan and sell New Zealand produced milk, but he ended up selling wood in the South Pacific, an enterprise that led to the creation of Abodo Wood. In places like Samoa, Vanuatu and Tonga Daniel witnessed the increasing demand for building timber.…
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224: Why are we so far behind?
I’ve heard it said that New Zealand and Australian are a decade or two behind the US and that the US is a further decade behind Europe when it comes to the quality of our buildings. That leaves us with a lot of catching up to do. Why are we so far behind? I’m not…
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223: Sustainable Architecture
Throughout her career, Anne SalmnoIn has always been interested in sustainable architecture. In 2019 she was made a Distinguished Fellow of the New Zealand Institute of Architects, a high honour available to a maximum of only ten people at any one time. As a trailblazer throughout her career, Anne is a worthy recipient of this…
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218: An Airtight ECO-Block House in Tauranga
Simon Cator of Pro Clima New Zealand recently caught up with Kirstie Brown at a sustainable house that Kirstie has built using ECO-Block Insulation Concrete Forms (ICF) in Tauranga. Simon finds out about the advantages of using ECO-Blocks and how an airtight construction is already contributing to great performance. This episode and accompanying article originally…
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216: Studio Origami
I’m always interested in the perceptions of architects and builders who have been trained or have experienced living in Europe and then come to the Southern Hemisphere. Their reaction to typical houses in New Zealand and Australia usually involves a level of disbelief. A common sentiment is that they’ve never been colder, despite this being…