Passionate about design and the creation of space for people to enjoy, Arrowtown architect Anna-Marie Chin had been working within a team of architects when in 2015 she decided the timing was right to set her own direction and establish her own unique practice, giving birth to Anna-Marie Chin Architects. “Architecture is about space; about the connection between inside and outside. Our success over the last nine years is very much about our relationship with people. We like to listen and we also have a skill in our ability to design beautiful buildings. We love working in a team, and our success is also about the relationship we have with the building teams that we use and all the people we have around us that we work collaboratively with.” While projects are primarily residential, ranging from the very small house alterations right Spaces for people to enjoy through large scale designs of new homes and multi residential developments, Anna-Marie Chin Architects is also engaged to design some smaller scale bespoke commercial projects including restaurant fit outs and office buildings. “Our residential clients include young people looking to start a family, right through to people who are retiring and want to downsize, change the way they live, or build a warmer and more energy efficient home. We work with a huge range of budgets and work with our clients to then meet their budgets for what they want in a new home.” Based in the charming, quirky and history rich village of Arrowtown, it is natural that the majority of the practices work is centred around the Central Otago region. However, there is also an increasing volume of work throughout New Zealand including Cambridge — where the architectural team have been working with AHS Group on their major development. “AHS Groups is developing a large piece of land in Cambridge that will eventually include a Health Hub, compact housing and residential housing,” says Anna-Marie. “We were engaged to design the compact housing and its layout within the development’s master plan, and we are now starting to get involved in the residential housing as well.” The compact housing development required 44 high-quality houses using a combination of materials including stone and timber, and positioned to maximise light and privacy between buildings. “We took that brief and worked through the best way to achieve that. Our response was a combination of seven duplex buildings, with each duplex comprised of two adjoining units, with a shared fire wall between, and thirty standalone two storey houses, predominantly with double garages. The way we structured that development was to group the housing in five areas within five laneways, around one driveway. Each house has two courtyard locations, providing opportunity for sun and light at different times of the day. A key architectural feature is that we wanted the development to reflect the natural look and feel of Cambridge that it is so well known and loved for. Cambridge has that park-like setting with big well-established trees. That has been established by a combination of hedges, timber fences, and trees within a park like setting.” Photos: Simon Devitt +64 03 409 8881 8 Berkshire St, Arrowtown admin@amchinarchitects.co.nz
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