| 65 Archikraft ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN Modern design with a nod to the past Understanding how clients function spatially within their homes is critical in creating a solid floor plan, says Archikraft director Kylie van Gisbergen. T T Sue Russell LAND SURVEYORS • Subdivisions • Boundaries • Building set outs & certification • Topo surveys Paul Graves 021 0876 7084 | paul@rusurveyors.co.nz 0508 4 SURVEY www.rusurveyors.co.nz RU Surveyors are a Land Surveying company with offices in Whitianga, Tauranga, Waikato area. The area we cover is: Coromandel Peninsula, Hauraki Plains, Bay of Plenty ,Waikato KGW CONSULTING ENGINEERS 24A Empire St, Cambridge PO Box 721 Cambridge 3450 M 027 202 5575 E admin@kgwengineers.co.nz www.kgwengineers.co.nz STRUCTURAL DESIGN FROM RESIDENTIAL, COMMERCIAL, INDUSTRIAL TO EARTHQUAKE RESIDENTIAL ELEVATORS & HOME LIFT SOLUTIONS. PROUDLY DESIGNED & MANUFACTURED IN THE BAY SINCE 1995. 0800 SIMPLEX (746753) www.simplexlifts.com Taking you to the next level When Kylie and husband Justin returned from Australia to New Zealand six or so years ago, they made the decision to settle back in their home of Whangamata, on the Coromandel’s east-coast. Already a qualified and experienced architecticural designer; Kylie secured licenced building pratitioner (LBP) status in New Zealand and incorporated Archikraft Ltd. The goal was to establish her own professional practice in their home town and be part of considered archtectural design on the Coromandel. While their children chased their own surfing interests, growing up around family and friends. Archikraft has grown to a team of qualified architectural designers and CAD technicians who work with 40-50 clients a year. All of the team are generationally local, and have lived the changes to the coast. Kylie believes this gives the team a certain perspective of what good design represents now, including a consideration for our architectural traditions. In New Zealand, any party needing a building consent requires the services of a licenced practitioner in design or a registered architect. Archikraft’s portfolio ranges from residential small renovations, extensive alterations, to architectural new-builds. As well as light industrial, commercial and public infrastructure. Archikraft facilitates the design process and produces the technical drawings required for building consent. Inherent in this is coordinating and collaborating with the other requisite consulting services (planners, surveyors, civil and structural engineers, ‘Lifemark’, archaeological consultants, landscape architects, interior designers, for example). “The building consent process is not straight forward. Where the main contractor is the glue in the construction phase, we are the glue in the consenting phase.”, Kylie explains. Archikraft enjoys close relationships with the many trade professionals and related consulting services. “Those relationships are critical to delivering timely consent and building outcomes for our clients.” Kylie believes one of Archikraft’s points of difference is a focus on delivering comprehensive drawings and documentation to minimise the challenges of the consenting process and to make the main building contractor’s job easier. At the core of Archikraft’s service is to articulate in design what clients aspire to live in. “Understanding how clients function spatially within their homes is critical in creating a solid floor plan and understanding what ignites clients passion in terms of the material aesthetic is important in creating a built form clients are proud of”. Archikraft operates out of a small office in Whangamata. As a town being somewhat geographically constrained given surrounding waterways and forestry, there isn’t the volume of new housing on green sites as may be found in other centres. Kylie says this means that a lot of her work are renovations, alterations and/or extensions. “We have some lovely old homes here which echo back to the time where Whangamata was full of sea-side baches. I like to think I’m helping owners who want to stay in their home but bring it into the present, still retain a lot of that original character, and at the same time consider what it means to create a built form in the coastal environment in terms of scale, form and material choices.” Working on projects of this nature is something Kylie and the team enjoy, given the town is well represented with group housing businesses providing options for people who want to build in that direction. It’s important Kylie says to have a solid understanding of the Building Code when contemplating changes and upgrades to an existing home. Archikraft offers architectural services throughout the greater Coromandel region. Working in a coastal situation also brings unique challenges when processing consents through Council as Kylie explains. “Given Council is looking very closely now at how the coastline will be altered through changes in weather patterns we’re seeing more caution on their part when plans are going through consent. There is the existing coastal erosion line and a future coastal erosion line they take into account as well as inundation mapping to factor into when considering whether a particular site is good to build or develop on.” A number of properties close to the coast, once considered to be quite appropriate to build on, or make alterations to existing dwellings, is no longer considered so. “This leads to clients rightly being quite cautious about undertaking development of their property.” Asked why good architecture is so important Kylie says, as a professional in this space, she has a responsibility to create good design. Something that celebrates the context of the environment it is in, is relateable to its surrounds and has a timelessness that only great design can create. She loves to see architecture that gives a nod to the past while embracing all that is possible to achieve in a modern context. Kylie says she is happy with how her business is evolving. She is one of a small number of designers and architects operating in the town and says there is a high level of respect between them. “We each have our particular way of celebrating great design. We each bring our own mark into this great town and I think collectively we are contributing to Whangamata’s special look and feel.”
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