Create space for your Soul
MINDFUL ARCHITECTURE
Creating Space for your Soul
Wellbeing is at the centre of what we design, how we design and why we design.
We design beautiful homes and workplaces that focus on the health and wellbeing of people, while being kind to our environment.
They say that you won't remember what someone says or does, but you will remember how they made you feel. The same is true of buildings, interiors and our communal urban spaces. Architecture has an immensely powerful impact on our lives and our environment.
We are sculptors of form, colour, texture and light.
Buildings invoke feelings - they can be places of safety, refuge, calm, worship or learning; they can be places for innovation, creativity or celebration; they can be places for creating and maintaining deep connections with those you care about. Architecture is about people, in the present, but also mindful of our impact on the environment for future generations.
We manage your whole project from start to finish and we are respectful of your needs.
Wellbeing is at the centre of our design philosophy. Architects quote a mantra "Form follows Function". We take that one step further and say "Form follows Intent". By this we mean that while a kitchen may be a place to prepare food (functionally), it is primarily a place to connect with family and friends, often the heart of the home. We design spaces that are more than just functional - spaces that uplift the soul and set the stage for positive connections with others.
WELLBEING
We select local materials and contractors wherever possible. Not all materials can be locally sourced in New Zealand unfortunately, but we will weigh up the options carefully before arriving at a solution. Sometimes it just requires a higher level of innovation to create an impact with a simple material. Supporting local builds our local economy and keeps suppliers in business.
SUPPLIERS
While there is currently a lot of attention on the impact of buildings on the environment, we must also consider the impact of our buildings on our local communities. This may be physical in terms of being well mannered in our contextually appropriate designs, but it also means contributing wherever we can to our local community - we support local businesses before corporates, and run community workshops to share our knowledge.
SOCIAL
Energy usage impacts every aspect of the life of a building: how we design the form and orientation of the building for maximising or minimising solar gain; materials and component selection (especially windows); embodied energy in materials we select; energy usage during construction and occupation; energy to demolish and/or re-use. There are many decisions to be made, right up front, as we start the design process.
ENERGY
There are so many building materials to select from, that the process of selection can be mind boggling. We select materials based on a number of criteria. Apart from how well materials perform, we also consider the impact of materials on the environment and on the health of the people using the building - during and post construction
MATERIALS
While designing, our primary intent with regards to waste is to eliminate waste to landfill (or until recent times, polluting the seas of poorer nations). This can be achieved through the careful selection of materials, reduction of construction waste (off-cuts, packaging), and even through on site waste treatment for larger projects.
WASTE
DESIGN MANAGEMENT
Creating a positive culture on every project
Mutual respect and trust is at the centre of effective design team co-ordination
As experienced design managers, we know what is required to set up a design team for success, and how to get people working together collaboratively in BIM environment. Our strength lies in establishing and maintaining a collaborative and high performance team culture across the disciplines. Strong, decisive and empathetic leadership requires the ability to manage both down and up the chain effectively, ensuring that both designers and stakeholders are involved in decision making.
In depth knowledge of the role and responsibilities of each design professional is required for effective design management, and this requires first hand experience as a member of the design team. Co-ordination between disciplines is critically important to achieve both quality and budget goals. A poorly co-ordinated design results in programme, budget and quality failure during construction.
PROJECT MANAGEMENT
PROJECT OR BUSINESS AS USUAL?
Business as usual (BAU) is what you do every day or every month - what keeps your business ticking over and hopefully growing; it is your core service.
A PROJECT CREATES CHANGE
It's that simple!
PROJECT GOVERNANCE
Setting up a project for success and leading a team of experts to deliver a project successfully requires an in depth knowledge of project governance. It is effective governance that determines the overall success or failure of a project.
We are "multi-lingual consultants" who can translate the KPI's and outcomes of the business case into language understood by architects, engineers and quantity surveyors. We create a robust building project brief with measurable, achievable and deliverable goals and realistic milestones.
We ensure that the project organization chart is sructured correctly, and that people identified in various roles have the expertise and authority to make the right decisions as the project progresses.
PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Project Management is the technical part of the role, with a strong emphasis on planning, documentation, risk management and reporting. A good project management service essentially creates a structure and framework for ensuring that certain identified outcomes are achieved. In construction, that change project is typically the design and delivery of buildings or infrastructure. The project plan sets criteria for:
· quality standards to be achieved
· project timeline for deliverables
· communication and decision-making protocol
· risk and budget management
· reporting requirements
PROJECT LEADERSHIP
It is the role of the Project Director (or Project Manager on smaller projects) to provide effective leadership and motivation to the delivery team. A Project Manager with leadership skills understands instinctively how to motivate the individuals in a team, without resorting to authoritarianism. They treat team members with respect, and they inspire people to perform to a higher level and collaborate as a team.
The Project Manager is the primary point of liaison between to the client and the delivery team, and the best placed to assist the client to make decisions timeously, avoiding delaying the delivery team once the project gets going. This can be a tough role at times, especially in cases where clients are new to the project environment, or where there are multiple stakeholders with conflicting goals.
CONTRACTS & PROCUREMENT
With typically 90% of the capital costs of a building lying in construction costs, and only 10% in consultancy fees, getting the construction contract and associated documentation right up front is the single biggest influencer in controlling final project costs and quality.
We provide services from procurement to contract administration (previously engineer to contract), both in a hands on and in a review capacity. We also provide these services to Contractors and Sub-Contractors. Obviously we service only one party to a contract on a first come first serve basis.