| 105 The way of the future VIA architecture loves to collaborate with builders and other designers to generate a new standard for Kiwi housing with homes that are warm, comfortable, and energy efficient with lower environmental impact. VIA architecture T T Kelly Deeks ARCHITECTURE Specialising in passive house and high-performance architecture, Elrond Burrell of Kāpiti’s VIA architecture loves to collaborate with builders and other designers to generate a new standard for Kiwi housing with homes that are warm, comfortable, and energy efficient with lower environmental impact. Elrond is incredibly passionate about sustainable architecture. Educated at Victoria University of Wellington, he took his skills to the UK where he worked for one of its leading sustainable architecture practices, Architype. For the next 10 years he was instrumental in the design and delivery of some of Architype’s groundbreaking work, including the UK’s largest passive house apartment building and several passive house schools. Coming home to New Zealand in 2016, there wasn’t much passive house building going on. People didn’t really know about it, and they didn’t talk about it either. Still, Elrond knew sustainable design was going to be the future of housing, so he took the proactive approach and set up VIA architecture to not only design sustainable new homes and renovation projects, but also to consult and collaborate with other architects and designers and help them achieve passive house certification or simply low-carbon, high-performance, sustainable design outcomes. Passive house certification is a clearly defined standard and quality management system that produces buildings that deliver on all aspects of occupant wellbeing while consuming very little energy. Its robust designand-build process focuses on such factors as building orientation and form, air-tightness and ventilation, insulation and thermal bridging, high-performance joinery, and small and efficient hot water and heating systems. In 2024, Elrond started collaborating with Sam Rosoman, director of Optimum Build in Palmerston North. Together, the two are targeting passive house certification for Sam’s current build in the Manawatū, designed by E3 Architects. “We like collaborating with other people, especially when there is an opportunity to educate and engage,” Elrond says. “We love to work with people who are keen to learn and do something different from what they’ve done in the past. This is Sam’s first passive house build and he’s been great to work with. He and his team are focused on delivering very good quality and they’re really good at scheduling. “It feels like we’re getting the quality of the construction to match what’s been designed, and to meet the client’s expectations.” While an architect or designer can do any number of wonderful things on the drawing board, this collaboration with a builder ensures the buildability of the project and that it meets the budget. “As an architect or a consultant, we have a range of different things to cover when we collaborate with a builder. “We go through all the ways to do certain things to find out which way they feel most comfortable and confident undertaking, and which way would achieve the best quality and the best price. “That’s why it’s great to work with a skilled builder who can add their expertise at the design stage.” Structural Design • 3D Static & Dynamic Structural Analyses • Seismic Assessment & Strengthening Focus Engineering Consultants are proud to support VIA Architecture 022 088 3598 optimumbuildnz@gmail.com Renovations New Builds Passive House CERTIFIED
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