40 | Beautiful spaces, better lives Mitchell Coll owns award-winning Coll Architecture, now known as Fabric. Photo: Stephen Goodenough ARCHITECTURE ADNZ: Coll Architecture/Fabric T T Karen Phelps Mitchell Coll owns multi award winning Coll Architecture, now known as Fabric. His practice of architects and designers specialise in shaping bold, beautiful and highly functional spaces that are perfect for their surroundings and the people who call them home. How did you get into architecture? My father was an architectural designer working for the Timaru District Council for some 30 years so I grew up around architecture. There were drawings around everywhere and I went out with Dad on site, always on one end of the tape measure! In Christchurch there was no architecture school so I studied a Diploma in Architectural Technology at Christchurch Polytechnic. Then I started working, largely contracting to my father and whatever jobs I could get myself, and kept studying to become a registered architect. I officially started Coll Architecture in June 2009. What do you love about being an architect? A heap of things. I believe if people are in more beautiful spaces their lives are better. I think architecture can do a lot of good for society if people live in properly designed spaces. The obvious one is health – every single building I’ve designed benefits people’s health hugely – healthy, warm and dry buildings. For me it’s about designing buildings that respond to the environmental contexts they are in, ones that look after our natural environment during the build as well as through their use and promote people’s connection to the environment. All of my projects take into consideration the particular site so at every movement through the house there is some connection to the external environment. While there’s the design of the building as a product I also love the journey. We get to meet some great people and that’s why we focus on residential. We go on a journey with them that can take years. By that time you really get to know them and have hopefully created a friendship and deliver a great home. Architecture is always interesting and there is always so much to learn. I find it incredibly challenging and stimulating at the same time. “I believe if people are in more beautiful spaces their lives are better.” Career highlights? There are two types of highlights –Firstly are the joy I see from clients who are happy with their design. One of the best comments is when someone says that doing the house was the greatest thing they’ve ever done in their life. The other highlights are being recognised by our peers for the awards we’ve won. The awards that mean the most are the most challenging projects. We’re humbled that our work has been recognised within the industry, including in the ADNZ National Supreme and People’s Choice Awards, and the NZIA Local Multi-unit and Small Project Awards. The most recent award was this year when we took out an NZIA award for a 10 square metre project, nestled on the edge of a mature kānuka stand on the slopes above Akaroa, that provided storage and services for the owners’ future home, to be built on the adjacent site Tips for those wanting to get into the industry? You get out what you put in. There is so much you can get involved with and learn with architecture. If you’re willing to put in the effort you’ll reap the rewards. As a career there are multiple areas you can choose to specialise in and a wide variety of projects you could do over your career. You can build your own business and do things your way, forge your own path and your own design path. Your full service electrical company, specialising in bespoke, architecturally designed homes. +64 27 355 4435 damien@lecomteelectrical.co.nz www.lecomteelectrical.co.nz
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