| 109 T T Richard Loader Fostering healthier-home design WEL Architecture has established projects the depth and breadth of New Zealand, all through word of mouth. WEL Architecture ARCHITECTURE In September of 2024 Joe Lyth, a registered architect originally hailing from North Yorkshire, England, decided the time was right to follow his passion, and establish his own practice, WEL Architecture, based on three pillars: Design. Consult. Teach. “Buildings in New Zealand have a history of poor performance around either energy demand or, more likely now, overheating,” says Joe. “The industry has been finding it hard to come to terms with that, and I saw an opportunity to provide advice, services and input to help the wider industry upskill in regard to healthier homes. “It’s trying to help people with new buildings, people with existing buildings who want to do better, and people who are going to be designing buildings in the future. The response across all three pillars has been very good.” Joe’s passion for building performance and occupant health was born from personal experience, watching his own children get sick in cold, mouldy, minimum-code buildings. His response was to design his own certified passive house and Homestar-rated building to ensure his family’s health, and show that healthier, lower-energy and affordable buildings are possible for everyone in New Zealand, at standard budgets. “We built our passive house on less than a building code budget to demonstrate that high performance doesn’t have to mean high cost. “It was the second Homestar v5 10-rated building in the country, and since completing it nearly four years ago I’ve used it as a pathway to test approaches to achieving better buildings, and as an education tool for the wider industry.” Working from home 40 minutes north of Auckland, Joe says WEL Architecture has established projects the depth and breadth of New Zealand, all through word of mouth. “I try to be available and helpful and people respond to that. The primary purpose of a building is to protect people, make them feel comfortable and happy. “Our design work is classic architecture from concept through to completion, along with building and resource consent and site observation. It could be a home, a school, a library. I’m currently working on trail shelters that will be built along the length of the country.” Targeting homeowners, builders and other architects, WEL’s specialist consulting services are intended to help people achieve healthier buildings. “We do passive house and Homestar designs for other designers, as well as energy modelling for designers or homeowners who have an existing building to see what improvements can be made and the impact on comfort and performance. We also do airtightness testing as well for anyone who wants it.” The teach pillar is about providing education, and Joe lectures at universities and teaches the Homestar Designer Course for the New Zealand Green Building Council. “That’s all about energy modelling and embodied carbon. I also present to industry. The interest in healthier, cooler and warmer building is definitely increasing, especially with the publicity around climate change and how our existing buildings are going to respond to it. “People are realising we need to do better. Along with the rest of the world, New Zealand is going to have to start reporting on carbon soon, so the industry as a whole is having to upskill.” “Our design work is classic architecture from concept through to completion, along with building and resource consent and site observation.”
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