A few words with three leading women from architect builders, Box.
LAURA
I am an architectural designer from Scotland who fell in love with the long Kiwi summers, the surf, and my job designing ‘wee hooses’ at Box.
What kind of projects do you most enjoy working on?
I love the challenge of constraints! Particularly, compact design, which I’ve been working a lot with in Box’s sibling company, Artis.
What are the three most important questions you ask clients?
· Tell me about your lifestyle.
· What are the most important moments for you in your home – any must haves/no-gos?
· And of course, it’s a biggie – how much do you want to spend?
What’s the best thing about your job?
The clients! I love meeting new people and exploring ideas with them. Being on site watching visions come alive is very special too.
AMELIA
I joined Box a year ago as a project manager. Having originally studied architecture, I love working in an environment that’s full of talented creatives, but also has a focus on high-quality construction.
What motivates you?
Building a home is often a huge emotional and financial investment for clients, so my main source of motivation is the satisfaction of completing a building – seeing it turn from a ‘house’ into a ‘home’ as it’s handed over. It’s truly rewarding and worth any challenges that may arise during the process.
Your typical day?
It starts with catching up with our builders on site in the morning to check things are going as planned, then heading into our office to catch up with the design and quantity surveying teams to help with project planning and risk management.
What qualities do you believe a project manager most needs?
They should be a strong communicator, confident at making decisions, and able to provide pragmatic solutions. They should be able to motivate and bring together the whole team, ensuring the project is delivered in accordance with design intent, schedule and budget, and that the client is left with a smile on their face!
SOPHIE
I am an architect and have been at Box for just over a year. Before Box I worked mainly in commercial architecture so have been enjoying working closely with families to help create their dream homes.
How important is sustainable design?
Very. Throughout the design there are plenty of opportunities to consider sustainability such as in the selection of materials and considering passive design principles.
Design can influence sustainability on a much larger scale too. People are naturally drawn to the path of least resistance. For example, if a public building has a grand, central staircase and the elevator is tucked away then people will choose to take the stairs rather than the elevator. Therefore, all that designers need to do is make sustainable choices effortless, and people will take them.
Describe the Box design process
The first step in the process is always to understand the various constraints of the site, and to establish a brief and a rough budget.
Then comes the design! We work closely with the client to develop a concept design which generally starts as a rough sketch and ends with a 3D computer model and a set of drawings which is passed to our quantity surveying team for pricing.
