Welcome to the Smart Living Spaces blog — a collection of thoughts, tips, and insights on how we can design and live better in Aotearoa.
Here you'll find articles on Passive House, Homestar, energy modelling, healthy homes, and the everyday realities of sustainable architecture in New Zealand. Whether you're a homeowner looking to improve your space or a fellow designer exploring better building performance, I hope these posts offer something practical, empowering, and real.
Because good design isn't just about buildings — it's about people, comfort, and creating spaces that work for the long term.
Plugging the Leaks
Andrew Eagles from the New Zealand Green Building Council commented on LinkedIn earlier this year, that if we plugged all the thermal leaks in our homes, we wouldn’t need to increase our power generation capacity. This would be because we would be making more effective use of our current capacity.
Are you 2030 Ready for Building for Climate Change?
Are you 2030 Ready for Building for Climate Change? Climate change is a contentious concept, capable of sparking massive debate.
The reality and reason of Code Compliance
Our New Zealand Building Code sets the minimum, so its fair to say it prescribes the worst-preforming building you can legally build.
Mechanical Ventilation and Air Conditioning, what is the difference
As we experience warmer summers and cold winters, we turn to regulate the temperature of the air by installing an air conditioning unit or a heat pump that can both heat and cool. While this is great for thermal comfort, this is a separate issue to ventilation.
Off Site Manufacture and Energy Efficient Homes
Offsite NZ held its Annual Collab over two days in Auckland in June. This is one of my favorite conferences. Here is why.
Passive House Principles - What does this means for you?
There are 5 passive house principles which form the base for Passive House Design. They are Airtightness, Quality insulation, Quality Windows, No Thermal Bridging and Heat Recovery Ventilation.
Medium Density, Passive House and Homestar
Recently I attended the BRANZ seminar for Medium Density Housing. It was such a valuable session with many experts bringing their experience, ideas, and knowledge to help me navigate the Medium Density design space better.
Why you should consider Homestar
I recently became a Homestar Assessor with the New Zealand Green Building Council.
What is a sustainable building?
There are many definitions for this, it’s an open concept with a varied response. Here is my definition.
Passive House
I am excited to be starting the first phase of the Passive Haus Course. It's been a busy start to what is hopefully a good year.
Low Carbon Buildings
The conversations in our New Zealand building industry are touching on the many changes and challenges that we are facing namely around operating and embodied carbon.
What is Passive House
There are many opinions about what Passive House, but some confuse it with passive solar design. Here is the explanation.
Certified Passive House Designer
I did a little dance this morning. An email landed in my inbox from Passive House Institute, the news I have been quietly hoping for. I can proudly and confidently say that I am now a Passive House Designer.
Celebration Moment
12 Years today, I graduated with my Bachelor of Architectural Studies. It’s a celebration moment.