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Alki Design

Contact information, map and directions, contact form, opening hours, services, ratings, photos, videos and announcements from Alki Design, Architectural Designer, 38 Bernard Road, Albert Town.

Alki is a boutique architecture and design studio creating soulful, high-performance spaces that connect us — to our environment, to each other, and to our future.

04/09/2026

Three awards for our little cabin, and this one feels especially meaningful. 🤎

Alongside its Regional Awards for New Home up to 150m² and Home Interiors, Yakisugi Cabin received the 2026 Regional ADNZ Resene Kaitiakitanga Award.

From the beginning, this project was about doing more with less. Working with what we already had, making careful choices, and finding ways to reduce impact without compromising the experience or beauty of the architecture.

To have that thinking recognised through an award for kaitiakitanga feels incredibly special.
The judges said:
“Through thoughtful material selection and resourceful design, this project demonstrates a genuine commitment to sustainability. Salvaged joinery, careful site planning, and innovative environmental strategies combine to minimise its footprint while maximising design outcomes.”

A pretty special night for a very little cabin. 🥹

Thank you , and to everyone who helped us bring it to life.

Photography
Construction

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03/09/2026

A second recognition for our little cabin. 🤎

Last Friday night at the 2026 ADNZ Resene Architectural Design Awards, Yakisugi Cabin also received a Regional Award for Home Interiors.

So much of the cabin was shaped slowly and by hand, with an emphasis on natural materials, their imperfections, and creating spaces that simply feel good to be in.

We’ve always believed the materials we choose have a profound influence on how a space is experienced, so to have that recognised by the judges means a lot:
“This interior is distinguished by its thoughtful and honest use of natural materials. Clay plaster walls, timber milled on site, and a breathable building fabric work together to create a calm, tactile environment.”

Thank you .

Photography
Construction

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25/08/2026

Timber is not passive.

It responds.

To moisture.
To climate.
To load.
To time.

Its grain, density, durability and stability are shaped by the conditions of its growth, and each species brings its own particular characteristics.

To design well with timber is to pay attention to these differences. To understand that movement and variation are not necessarily flaws to overcome, but qualities to anticipate and work with.

Performance comes from aligning design decisions with the nature of the material. From grain orientation and moisture allowance to species selection, flashing, fixing, junctions and protection. Often, it is these quieter acts of architecture that allow timber to perform well over time.

Because performance is not standardised. It is specific.

The Timber Series – Volume III: Performance explores the intelligence within timber and what it means to design with a material that is responsive, directional and inherently variable.

Read the full journal via the link in our bio.

Featuring The Log House, works in progress
Timber: Existing 1980s Oregon Pine logs from Southland, paired with a reclaimed Southland bridge beam used as a lintel in the new schist addition.

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19/08/2026

Project: The Fold
Location: Luggate, Central Otago
Status: Construction & Consent Documentation

The floor plan has been carefully organised around family life — balancing togetherness with retreat while remaining flexible enough to support changing needs over time.

Living spaces occupy the northern and eastern edges of the home, opening directly to sheltered courtyards and gardens that extend daily life outdoors. Bedrooms are grouped separately to provide privacy, quieter sleeping environments and protection from the harsher western climate, while bathrooms, services and storage are consolidated to reduce construction cost and simplify servicing.

Designed with both a growing family and ageing parents in mind, circulation is intuitive, wheelchair accessibility has been integrated from the outset, and every square metre has been carefully considered to minimise unnecessary space while maximising function.

The result is a home that feels generous without being excessive — one shaped by landscape, performance and the evolving rhythms of family life.

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18/08/2026

Project: The Fold
Location: Luggate, Central Otago
Status: Construction & Consent Documentation

Conceived as a calm, high-performance family home, this project responds directly to the climate, landscape and rural character of Central Otago.

The architecture is shaped by the site's opportunities and constraints. Living spaces open east toward the Clutha River and Grandview Range, while sheltered courtyards protect outdoor living from the prevailing north-westerlies. Operable timber shutters temper the northern sun, allowing the home to adapt throughout the seasons while maintaining comfort and privacy.

Materiality draws from the surrounding agricultural landscape. Acid-washed corrugated steel, timber detailing and natural plaster create a restrained palette that references local farm buildings while celebrating warmth, durability and low-toxicity construction. A high-performance StrawSIP envelope quietly underpins the project, pairing passive solar design with an efficient building fabric designed for generations of family life.

The result is a home that responds to its landscape as much as it responds to the family who will live within it.

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12/08/2026

A new online home for ALKI.

Over the past little while, we’ve been quietly shaping a new website that better reflects who we are, how we work, and the architecture we believe in. A space to gather the work, ideas and questions that define ALKI.

Our new website brings these threads together. Our projects, our practice and our philosophy, all in one place, with room to continue evolving alongside us.

A little more considered.
A little more curious.
A little more us.

Our new website is now live.

https://alkidesign.co.nz/

Have a wander. We’d love to know what you think.

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11/08/2026

We often think of timber as inherently sustainable.

Renewable.
Carbon storing.
Natural.

But the environmental story of timber is more complex.

Its impact begins long before it becomes part of a building. In the forests it comes from. The way those forests are managed. The biodiversity they support. The time allowed for regeneration. And the longevity of the buildings we create with them.

Sustainability is never defined by a material alone. It asks us to look beyond what we build with, towards the systems, choices and stewardship that sit behind it.

The Timber Series – Volume II: Planet explores timber through the lens of whole-of-life thinking, responsible forestry and our relationship with the living systems our buildings ultimately come from.

Read the full journal via the link in our bio.

Featuring The Ryokan, works in progress
Timber: Untreated timber from the family farm, milled on site and crafted locally.

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06/08/2026

We often think we experience architecture with our eyes.

But long before we consciously analyse a space, our bodies have already responded.

To the light.
To the materials.
To the sound.
To the atmosphere.

Timber has occupied a special place in architecture for centuries. Not simply because of how it performs, but because of how it feels to live with. Its warmth, texture and subtle variation connect us to the natural world in ways we rarely stop to consider.

The Timber Series – Volume I: People explores the relationship between architecture, materials and human wellbeing.

Read the full journal: https://alkidesign.co.nz/philosophy/the-timber-series-volume-i-people/

Featuring Wawata Cabin
Timber: Reclaimed Australian Spotted Gum, supplied by LMA Timbers.
Photography:

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04/08/2026

Project: The Trellis
Location: Te Henga, Waitākere
Status: Concept Design

A floor plan should do more than organise rooms. It should organise the rhythms of daily life.

For this project, circulation has been intentionally reduced, allowing almost every square metre to become useful living space. Rather than separating movement into corridors, the plan flows naturally between spaces, with each threshold responding to a different part of the day.

The western edge forms the home's utility spine, providing direct access from the beach into the outdoor shower, wet room, laundry and storage before entering the main living areas. It creates a practical transition between the rugged west coast environment and the calm interior beyond.

To the south, the bedrooms are positioned as quieter, more private spaces. Each maintains a deliberate relationship with the landscape, stepping from shared outdoor rooms to increasingly private gardens that offer moments of retreat without disconnecting from the wider site.

The result is a home where planning is shaped by climate, ritual and landscape as much as programme. Creating spaces that feel intuitive to move through and natural to inhabit.

30/07/2026

Project: The Trellis
Location: Te Henga, Waitākere
Status: Concept Design

The floor plan is organised around three distinct layers of living, each responding to a different relationship with the landscape.

The northern edge forms the most open layer, a generous trellis that extends the living environment beyond the enclosed building and creates a sheltered threshold between indoors and the surrounding landscape.

At the centre sits the flexible living zone. Kitchen, dining and lounge spaces connect directly to the trellis, allowing the home to expand and contract with the seasons, weather and daily patterns of use while maintaining a compact footprint and reducing unnecessary circulation.

Along the western edge, utility spaces support life after the beach, providing direct access to showers, laundry and storage before moving through the home. The southern layer forms the more reclusive spaces, where bedrooms are set back from the primary living areas while still maintaining a hierarchy of connection to private outdoor spaces.

Every square metre has a purpose. Circulation is minimised, thresholds are intentional, and movement through the home follows the rhythms of coastal living rather than the conventions of a corridor.

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Address

38 Bernard Road
Albert Town
9305

Opening Hours

Monday	8:30am - 5pm
Tuesday	8:30am - 5pm
Wednesday	8:30am - 5pm
Thursday	8:30am - 5pm
Friday	8:30am - 5pm

Telephone

+64272611588

Website

http://www.alkidesign.co.nz/

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