86 | ARCHITECTURE Design & Make Architects T T Richard Loader Beautiful buildings from local materials The Whitiki te Huarere project, a sustainable learning hub at Fiordland College, is going to be a straw bale building, completely off-grid. The opportunities and experiences we enjoy in our formative childhood years often pave our future and how we contribute to the world we inhabit; such is the case for Te Anau architect Delia Bellaby. As a child growing up in the United Kingdom, Delia frequently travelled Europe, visiting and roaming historic buildings. Then, as a student, a couple of summers were spent helping to renovate historic barns, using local materials sourced from the very ground where the building stood. “The barns had been there for hundreds of years but the materials were still readily available for repairs,” says Delia. “We should not forget traditional building techniques and materials, because they are cheap, readily available and easy to use, and create really beautiful and interesting buildings for people, and buildings are for people.” With a background of working in very high-end architecture, in 2008 Delia made the decision to establish her own practice, Design & Make Architects, to gain more ‘on the ground’ engagement with the people she was designing homes for. “I got into architecture because I believed the built environment was really important for a good society. Doing architecture for beautiful one-off homes that wouldn’t be seen by many people wasn’t satisfying my reason for getting into the industry.” Over the years Delia’s projects have evolved from those very large mid to high-end homes absent of a budget, to homes with a much smaller foot print, and the budget spent on high quality buildings, beautifully crafted for long-term use. “People are looking for smaller, high-quality buildings that will be a long-term investment. Clients now come to me for that reason and I also think that the general market demand has shifted in that direction.” Design & Make Architects has recently achieved Passive House designer certification — a European ethos in which a building is designed to optimise the health and wellbeing of those inside it, while consuming very little energy. Building design, detailing and construction are key to achieving this. “Thinking about the carbon footprint and the cost of the materials we use to achieve high performance buildings is also really important,” says Delia. Originally based in Queenstown, Delia relocated her architectural practice to beautiful Te Anau seven years ago and has recently employed a Canterbury based graduate architect. While 50% of Design & Make Architect’s work continues to come from Queenstown, an increasing number of projects are coming from Southland and Canterbury. “We always go to site, because that’s important for every architectural project, but we don’t need to be on site all the time, and we can work with clients anywhere in the country really. “Eighty percent of our projects are currently residential, but I’m doing some work with schools and also have some commercial projects underway. I’m also quite passionate about master planning, and have master planned residential subdivisions. You have to think about how buildings will interconnect and relate to towns and not see the subdivision as an isolated community.” Delia strongly believes that good design should be available to everybody, and the architectural community has a responsibility to deliver upon that. “Improving the overall built environment is very important to me. Everybody needs a good home in a good town to live in. We have this really good design background tied in with other skills and interests which often don’t align with architectural firms. We don’t have a set style, and try to adapt to what our clients want. “We work very closely with our clients and try to involve them in the design process, so they understand what they’re getting and feel they have ownership of their project. We’re actually designing buildings for people.” In 2016 Delia attended the International Straw Bale Conference in Methven and was impressed by the expertise of all the people from New Zealand and around the world, what they were doing with traditional building techniques, and how they could be used as innovative techniques for today. Delia has become increasingly involved with the Earth Building Association of New Zealand (EBANZ) which promotes the art and science of natural building techniques and is now the Vice Chair. “In my EBANZ role I have been working with the architectural school at Te Pūkenga Dunedin Campus and WHAIAO, a UN regional centre of expertise based in Dunedin, creating a series of educational resources about natural building techniques. “We’ve been running workshops for the last two years, trying to get the message out there that these materials are really high performing, even though they are low cost and simple, and they are right here on our doorstep. Doing those educational projects, has led to some physical projects with schools including the Whitiki te Huarere project, a sustainable learning hub at Fiordland College, which is going to be a straw bale building, completely off-grid.” WINDOWS & DOORS 0800 455 501 WARMER, QUIETER, MORE SECURE FRAMES GUARANTEEED NOT TO CONDENSATE www.upvc.co.nz Brad Shaw 021 777 163 | southern@flashclad.co.nz | www.flashclad.co.nz CLADDING FOR L I FE The most unique, innovative and weathertight cladding systems available in NZ. Proven as one of the best tested cladding and mechanical flashing systems available. ® NOW EXCLUSIVELY STOCKED BY PSP *ON SELECT RANGES ® NOW EXCLUSIVELY STOCKED BY PSP Visit www.timbertech.nz for more info.
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