| 71 T T Virginia Wright Designer’s skills bring dreams to life Getting a builder in place early is Emma’s preference. ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN Emma Wallace Design After 20 years in the business, Emma Wallace of Christchurch’s Emma Wallace Design still enjoys putting her skills to work, listening to clients to understand what they want, and working closely with them, the builders, and all the other people who are part and parcel of today’s building industry. Her job is to ensure her clients are happy with their new home, whether it’s a renovation, an extension, or a new build, and to work with them to find that magic balance of budget and expectation that will bring their vision to life. With a degree in Interior Architecture from Victoria University, Emma did a few years in commercial design before moving to an architectural firm that did mainly residential work, and which brought the personal connection she enjoys. She set up her own business in 2013, around the same time she was starting a family, and continued to grow her skill base in drafting architectural design, doing contract work for other architects as she started to build her own client base. To make the most of her skills, Emma knows that the earlier she’s involved with clients the better, especially when it comes to achieving their ideas on whatever the budget they have to work with might be. It was an important part of her first major extension project, and everyone was happy with the result. “It felt good to re-use what we could and make the most of an existing home on a really tight budget. I’m very conscious that I’m working with other people’s money, and a big part of how I work is trying to keep their expectations realistic, not letting them get too carried away, knowing they have only so much to spend,” she says. Emma believes in being up front and honest from the beginning, with plenty of conversations around ranges of costs to make sure that clients are spending their money where it matters for them, sketching things up on the spot to help them understand what she’s talking about. They can then choose, for example, whether they would rather put their money into the engineering needed for a specific look, such as raftered ceilings rather than the cheaper trusses, or into the interior fixtures, such as higher-spec kitchen joinery, or a fully tiled bathroom. Getting a builder in place early is Emma’s preference. “It keeps the process open and honest and means we can work out things that might blow out the budget early, rather than getting too far down the road and having to redesign everything.” Emma might suggest a builder, or a builder might suggest Emma, as happened on a city- centre build where the client’s earthquake-damaged home is being rebuilt nearly 15 years after the event. Confined to the old building’s site, they increased the footprint with an overhanging cantilevered addition upstairs, and with insulation well over code, a hydraulic heating system, and high-spec fittings, the clients should find their new home very cheap to run in winter, with the overhang protecting the downstairs from too much sun in summer. It was a successful new build, but regardless of the size of the job Emma finds her work satisfying as long as the client is happy, knowing that her communication skills, along with her design and technical skills, have combined to give them the result they dreamed of. “It felt good to re-use what we could and make the most of an existing home on a really tight budget.” Optimise your home with functional designs that work for you and your lifestyle. emmawallacedesign.co.nz Our key services include: Topographic surveying Building set-out & location certificates Small-scale land development Cadastral / boundary surveying Give us a call on 027 252 7939 www.squarepegs.nz
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