GETTING era STARTED

I am sitting at the desk in our living room writing my first ever blog post.

What are the odds! I never thought I’d be writing out architectural thoughts and imaginings to the world.

Let alone working from home, with my dogs at my feet and little people playing with lego in the next room.

My desk is an old timber dressing table – the type with drawers both sides and a single one in the middle, ornate handles and curved legs. It’s always been a dream of mine to have a dressing table, for the traditional sitting at and doing your hair type of reason, but boy am I loving working at it!

Looking around, at least half of our furniture has had a life with someone else before it found its way to us. I love that they carry their own memories and personality with them.

My desk [aka dressing table] was a bit mucky when I found it, but I cleaned it up and gave it an oil and now its all shiny! I think about the woman who sat here before me – her ideas, her thoughts, her life. I wonder if someone sat here before her.

Before I sat here, I sat at a lot of other desks, mainly in the studios of other architects.

I am nervous and excited to be sitting here with the anticipation of expressing architectural ideas from my own studio.

It was always a dream to have my own practice, but I did not know if it would happen or what it would look like.

But, I have always loved architecture.

It has been a part of my life since the first drawings I did in elevation and plan of the farm I visited with my family at the age of four. I used to draw up plans of buildings and build them out of lego while listening to audiobooks borrowed from our local library.

I used to sit on the floor of my dads workshop amongst the wood shavings he carved - the curl of the timber was beautiful and the smell felt like home.

I love talking about peoples projects with them and problem solving solutions that work to make a difference in the every day moments of their lives.

I am an architecture nerd. But I don’t get excited about conventional designy stuff.

I DO get excited when someone walks through their built place for the first time with the excitement of a child on Christmas morning. I DO get excited about moving so smoothly around a space that you don’t notice how good it is. I DO get excited about a construction detail that answers every need for the purpose of the building.

What I have learned.

I have learned that architecture is for people, it is not for photographs and it is not for other architects.

I have learned that it is important to ensure the unique architectural language specific to purpose, place and people are expressed in every part of the built form in order for the building to work for the people who are using it.

What I wanted to do.

I wanted to help people find architecture specific to them, give them the confidence to navigate the process, problem solve the best solutions and include the practicalities and beauty of architecture in their every day life.

I wanted to take the information that people already had, find the information they are missing and interpret it all in combination to make architecture specific to them. 

Why I wanted to do what I do. 

There is a certain structure that architects follow in the services they provide.

This structure does not always allow for an everyday person to afford the services of an architect and therefore the benefit of their services.

I wanted to provide an architectural service so that every person can experience architecture in their every day.

There seems to be a broad gap between the options for building your own home – a project home builder or an architect. There is often nothing in between.

I wanted to give people the option of an in between and let them feel empowered to build their own home on their terms with the benefit of knowledge.

I was talking to a lot of people who wanted to build their own home, or build a project, but the process was daunting.

There is a lot of information to consume and it can be difficult to get your head around everything you need to do.

I wanted to help people understand each step in the process and find their way through their journey.

These are the main reasons I want to share my architectural knowledge and experiences with every day people, in order to provide them with the ability to find their own architecture, converse with knowledge and achieve their goals.

So that is why I started out.

And here we go!

Journey commenced :)

Til next time!

Start the journey to find your architectural language and make your little ideas a reality.

Click here to see the little things I have made for you, or click here if you would like to work with me one on one.