Team Green Architects

Team Green Architects Architects who are passionate about energy efficient buildings.

06/09/2026

๐—ง๐—ต๐—ถ๐˜€ ๐—œ๐˜€๐—ป'๐˜ ๐—ฎ ๐—ฃ๐—ฎ๐˜€๐˜€๐—ถ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ ๐—›๐—ผ๐˜‚๐˜€๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด.

I filmed this sitting on the sofa this morning in a t-shirt. It's the middle of winter and the house is full of sun.

I want to be clear that this isn't a Passive House thing โ€” it's mainly just orientation. Our house faces north and the winter sun is low enough in the sky to come straight in through the windows and genuinely warm the space. It's one of those things that sounds simple because it is simple.

In summer we'd overheat if it stayed like this, but the overhang above the windows is sized to block the high summer sun while letting the low winter sun straight through. Same principle people have been building with for thousands of years.

What I want people to take from this is that it doesn't cost extra. Orientation is a decision you make at the very start of a design, and an overhang isn't an expensive addition. If you get both right, you get this โ€” sun on the sofa in the middle of winter, shade when you need it in summer. Everyone building something right now could have this. It's just a matter of thinking about it early.

If you missed last week's video, I was looking at a $7M house in the Wakatipu where these basics weren't in the drawings at all.

Spring is finally here! Itโ€™s hard to believe this year is already rushing by. The daffodils have figured out their direc...
04/09/2026

Spring is finally here! Itโ€™s hard to believe this year is already rushing by. The daffodils have figured out their direction and nature is once again guiding us

This was from our first year โ€” a Passive House for a Japanese client, and our first real introduction to the Engawa. If ...
03/09/2026

This was from our first year โ€” a Passive House for a Japanese client, and our first real introduction to the Engawa. If you're not familiar with it, the Engawa is a transitional space in traditional Japanese architecture: a sheltered threshold between inside and outside that does something really interesting in a Passive House context. It becomes a kind of buffer zone, an intermediate space that sits between the interior and the exterior climate, and the more we worked with it the more we realised how naturally it aligns with passive design thinking.

The project also introduced us to the Japanese bathroom โ€” a completely different approach to bathing from what we're used to here, and one that turns out to be very compatible with sustainable design principles.

The client's circumstances changed, and it was never built. But the design stayed with us. We thought it would be interesting to see how an early sketch from that first year could translate into a render using AI โ€” and it was a good reminder that some of the best ideas don't make it off the page, at least not the first time.

๐—๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—ธ๐˜€ ๐—ฃ๐—ผ๐—ถ๐—ป๐˜ ๐—ฃ๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—ท๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐˜A house we designed for a site in Jacks Point โ€” the renders give a sense of what we were exploring wi...
28/08/2026

๐—๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—ธ๐˜€ ๐—ฃ๐—ผ๐—ถ๐—ป๐˜ ๐—ฃ๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—ท๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐˜

A house we designed for a site in Jacks Point โ€” the renders give a sense of what we were exploring with this one. The courtyard and the landscape were key to this design. Allowing light in throughout the building, and creating shelter from prevailing winds. Jacks Point has such a striking landscape it was important to make the most of that setting without competing with it.

Not every project makes it to construction, but this is one we still think about.

26/08/2026

๐—ฅ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ๐—ผ ๐—ผ๐—ฟ ๐—ธ๐—ป๐—ผ๐—ฐ๐—ธ ๐—ฑ๐—ผ๐˜„๐—ป โ€” I've been asked this question more times than I can count on this one, and it's genuinely not a simple answer.

Mid-build it looks like we should have just bowled it. But the concrete slab is retained, the metal roof is retained, most of the original framing and all of the trusses are retained. The building is simple in form so the footprint never changed. And what that all adds up to is a build that's cheaper and more sustainable than starting from scratch โ€” even if it doesn't look like it right now.

The clients wanted to keep the unassuming simplicity of what was there. That was the brief, and it shaped everything we did. What's emerging is something warm, healthy and far better functioning. Worth holding on for.

Last Night was COLD ๐Ÿฅถ
06/08/2026

Last Night was COLD ๐Ÿฅถ

04/08/2026

๐—ง๐—ต๐—ถ๐˜€ ๐—œ๐˜€๐—ปโ€™๐˜ ๐—ฎ ๐—ฃ๐—ฎ๐˜€๐˜€๐—ถ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ ๐—›๐—ผ๐˜‚๐˜€๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด.

I filmed this sitting on the sofa this morning in a t-shirt. Itโ€™s the middle of winter and the house is full of sun.

I want to be clear that this isnโ€™t a Passive House thing โ€” itโ€™s mainly just orientation. Our house faces north and the winter sun is low enough in the sky to come straight in through the windows and genuinely warm the space. Itโ€™s one of those things that sounds simple because it is simple.

In summer weโ€™d overheat if it stayed like this, but the overhang above the windows is sized to block the high summer sun while letting the low winter sun straight through. Same principle people have been building with for thousands of years.

What I want people to take from this is that it doesnโ€™t cost extra. Orientation is a decision you make at the very start of a design, and an overhang isnโ€™t an expensive addition. If you get both right, you get this โ€” sun on the sofa in the middle of winter, shade when you need it in summer. Everyone building something right now could have this. Itโ€™s just a matter of thinking about it early.

If you missed last weekโ€™s video, I was looking at a $7M house in the Wakatipu where these basics werenโ€™t in the drawings at all.

๐—จ๐—ป๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—น๐—ถ๐˜€๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐—ฃ๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—ท๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐˜Lake Hayes Road. A multi-level townhouse development that didn't proceed.It's a project we think about...
31/07/2026

๐—จ๐—ป๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—น๐—ถ๐˜€๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐—ฃ๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—ท๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐˜

Lake Hayes Road. A multi-level townhouse development that didn't proceed.
It's a project we think about when the conversation turns to density. These were high density luxury homes, with schist stone terracing that stepped into the hillside, planting woven through every level. The design was as much about the landscape as the buildings, integrating the two.

Unfortunately the client died too soon, and with him, the project.

28/07/2026

$๐Ÿณ๐—  ๐—”๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐˜†๐—ผ๐˜‚ ๐˜€๐˜๐—ถ๐—น๐—น ๐—ด๐—ฒ๐˜ ๐—ฐ๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—ฝ ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐˜๐—ฎ๐—ถ๐—น๐˜€!

I was on site this week at a house a local developer has under construction, and while I was there I walked next door to see one heโ€™d already completed โ€” itโ€™s on the market right now for $7M+.

The finished house is genuinely beautiful inside. High spec interiors, the kind of fit-out that explains the price, and it would be very easy to fall in love with it at an open home.

The thing that concerns me is that neither house has a slab edge insulation detail. Itโ€™s a thermal bridge that most buyers would never know to look for, but it has real consequences over time โ€” how comfortable the house is to live in, what it costs to heat, and how well the building fabric holds up. Cold surfaces attract moisture, and moisture causes deterioration. Iโ€™ve shared a previous example on here where plaster started coming off the walls โ€” thatโ€™s what an unaddressed thermal bridge looks like years later.

The detail that was left out would have cost tens of thousands at most to include โ€” probably less. The interiors are in the multi-hundreds of thousands. When itโ€™s all about the sale, what you canโ€™t see is likely to not have a lot of integrity.

There are local developers who donโ€™t approach things this way. But you have to know who.

28/07/2026

$๐Ÿณ๐—  ๐—”๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐˜†๐—ผ๐˜‚ ๐˜€๐˜๐—ถ๐—น๐—น ๐—ด๐—ฒ๐˜ ๐—ฐ๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—ฝ ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐˜๐—ฎ๐—ถ๐—น๐˜€!

I was on site this week at a house a local developer has under construction, and while I was there I walked next door to see one he'd already completed โ€” it's on the market right now for $7M+.

The finished house is genuinely beautiful inside. High spec interiors, the kind of fit-out that explains the price, and it would be very easy to fall in love with it at an open home.

The thing that concerns me is that neither house has a slab edge insulation detail. It's a thermal bridge that most buyers would never know to look for, but it has real consequences over time โ€” how comfortable the house is to live in, what it costs to heat, and how well the building fabric holds up. Cold surfaces attract moisture, and moisture causes deterioration. I've shared a previous example on here where plaster started coming off the walls โ€” that's what an unaddressed thermal bridge looks like years later.

The detail that was left out would have cost tens of thousands at most to include โ€” probably less. The interiors are in the multi-hundreds of thousands. When it's all about the sale, what you can't see is likely to not have a lot of integrity.

There are local developers who don't approach things this way. But you have to know who.

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