| 95 VOID Studio ARCHITECTURE T T Virginia Wright Fostering a collaborative approach The new Eagars Funeral Services building uses a residential form to provide a sense of familiarity and comfort for grieving families, it offers a soothing environment with intentional use of space to both frame light and reinforce the connection to the natural world outside. Proud to be associated with VOID Studio clemelectrical@xtra.co.nz Mobile 027 758 5559 571 Carrington Road RD1, New Plymouth 4371 “A funeral home is there to bring comfort to people mourning a family member or friend, so it is inherently an emotional building.” Five years ago, Scott Ferguson and his wife Jenna bought Jackson Architects, having worked there since 2013, and at the start of this year they rebranded the business to reflect their own architectural style and typology. “I’ve liked the name for years, and we did a naming session with a design company, who said it’s still the best name: void represents space, and void represents architecture, or rather the beginning of architecture, so it’s a good fit,” Scott says. VOID Studio works out of New Plymouth, with projects throughout the central North Island, and as far afield as Wellington. Its focus is more on high-end architecture, whether commercial or residential, with the team of four bringing a collaborative approach to their designs. Discussion around a project design and what might improve it is the norm in this practice, which has at its core the concept of architecture that creates emotion. In the bespoke residential space, this means listening carefully to their clients as they explore their ideas in response to the specific opportunities offered by their site. “Every building we design begins with understanding people, place and purpose, starting with space itself,” says Scott. “A void isn’t emptiness, it’s a place for light, movement and connection, and it’s this philosophy that guides us to design spaces that feel calm, functional and deeply human.” The recently completed Eagars Funeral Services building in New Plymouth brings all of that together in a way that has earned it a place on the shortlist for the NZIA (New Zealand Institute of Architects) 2026 Western Architecture Awards in the Commercial category. Scott has worked with clients Richard and Casey Martin over several years on various smaller residential projects, and in 2018 he designed a chapel for Eagars Funeral Services that won its own Western Branch Regional Commercial Architectural Award. The new Eagars Funeral Services building was expertly delivered by Livingstone Building New Zealand on time, under budget, and ready to open in August 2025. Designed using a residential form to provide a sense of familiarity and comfort for grieving families, it offers a soothing environment with intentional use of space to both frame light and reinforce the connection to the natural world outside. “A funeral home is there to bring comfort to people mourning a family member or friend, so it is inherently an emotional building. That connection to the landscape outside was key. One room has a big window where the casket can be viewed looking out over a carefully planted space with cedar cladding, which wraps around the space inside as well to really enhance the connection between the people, the landscape and the sky,” says Scott. The other family viewing room has its own courtyard area designed to allow clients to hold their own more intimate service, rather than go to the larger chapel next door if they prefer. With the emphasis again on connecting people with nature, biophilic planting by Mike Mansvelt combines with a deck floating over a tranquil man-made pond to integrate living things into the built environment. While still run by the Martins, Eagars Funeral Services is now owned by Propel, along with several others in New Zealand and Australia. The new building is universally liked and has been so successful with clients that it may become the blueprint for other Propel-owned funeral homes – a true reflection of its ability to bring solace to people in their time of need.
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