Smart Living Spaces Architecture

Smart Living Spaces Architecture I help people achieve beautiful healthy valuable and affordable spaces to call home by creating Smart Living Spaces.

Architectural Design with people and planet in mind.

Getting a low carbon home is hard when you are specifying products from the other side of the world.Every imported produ...
08/06/2026

Getting a low carbon home is hard when you are specifying products from the other side of the world.
Every imported product carries freight emissions, currency risk and delivery delays. Small Smart Spaces is built around New Zealand manufactured high performance systems, Formance SIPs, Ambiance uPVC, QPod, Stop Digging, Abodo. Local. Proven. High performance. Already specified.
Stop chasing sustainability through a shipping container.
Book a chat to know more, link in bio.

08/06/2026

Small Smart Spaces is a range of Healthy and Comfortable Architecturally Designed Homes suitable for Certification and Homestar ratings, Direct from the Architectural Designer to you.

You cannot have fee certainty without scope clarity.Both percentage based fees and blanket fixed fees create problems wh...
08/06/2026

You cannot have fee certainty without scope clarity.
Both percentage based fees and blanket fixed fees create problems when scope is genuinely unknown.

Everyone wants to engage an architectural designer with absolute certainty of cost for the whole process, but we cannot have certainty without clarity.

A percentage based fee structure can unintentionally reward expensive finishes and material choices rather than good design thinking and creative solutions. A bigger budget does not necessarily mean more work. A smaller budget does not necessarily mean less work. But percentage fees can inflate without improving outcomes.

On the other hand, if we set fixed fees for the entire process when parts of the scope are genuinely unknown, then a contingency for those unknowns always gets built in. That is something you pay for whether the work happens or not. Clients end up paying for assumptions that might never materialise.

What we want is to honour the work that needs to be done for your project while still giving you certainty. That is why I use a mixture of fixed fee and time charge across architecture and design stages. It builds in certainty where we have clarity and flexibility where we do not, so clients are not unfairly penalised on either side.

It is a fairer way to price new homes work, because the structure adapts to what the project actually is, rather than forcing every project into the same box.

07/06/2026

You cannot have fee certainty without scope clarity.

The traditional design and build process always involves layers of sales people and project managers.The real problem is...
07/06/2026

The traditional design and build process always involves layers of sales people and project managers.
The real problem is those layers separate you from the people who actually understand your project. Small Smart Spaces is a range of homes designed by an Architectural Designer and offered to you directly. Coupled with a range of affiliated builders, your design and build team has a direct connection to you. No sales people, no project managers, no wild promises from people not in the know.
Has your design and build team got a direct line to you, or are you talking through layers?
Download the brochure to see how a direct relationship works, link in bio.

Designed to Passive House principles is not the same as Passive House.Principles are sound in theory, but without measur...
07/06/2026

Designed to Passive House principles is not the same as Passive House.
Principles are sound in theory, but without measurement we do not actually know their impact.

A lot of people, including architects and architectural designers, will say their project was designed using Passive House principles. Here is the issue: it sounds great in theory, but it is often not effective in practical application.

Passive House principles are sound. But if we are not measuring them and we are not assessing them before the building is constructed, then we do not actually know their impact. What ends up happening is people are sold a theoretical solution without the practical grounding underneath it.

When those principles and practices are properly integrated into the design process, evaluated with PHPP, and held to account, that is when we see tangible results. That is when architecture delivers healthy, comfortable, high performance homes with genuinely low power bills.

The difference between intention and outcome always comes down to measurement. Principles set the direction, but tools like PHPP are what prove the design is doing what it claims to do.

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Hamilton
3216

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Monday 10am - 5pm
Tuesday 10am - 5pm
Wednesday 10am - 5:30pm
Thursday 10am - 5pm
Friday 10am - 5pm

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