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Dalefield Residence – in progress

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The Comfort Equation: 10 Questions you need answered if you’re designing a new home...

Reduce your heating bill by 90% AND BE 100% more comfortable than your neighbour!...

Thermal comfort & healthy buildings

At Team Green Architects we are committed to ensuring providing efficiency for all our clients.  To us this means achieving better thermal comfort by using less energy. ‘Thermal comfort’ according to Wikipedia means: “the condition of mind that expresses satisfaction with the thermal environment”. To achieve thermal comfort you first need to avoid the many common causes as shown in our other post “thermal discomfort and unhealthy buildings". You also need to consider what we ...

Home Style Green Podcast with Sian Taylor

"What does it mean to be a ‘green architect’? In this interview, Sian discusses how it’s easy to justify spending a bit more up front on the things that really matter. In some cases, houses designed by Team Green in Queenstown may require only as little as 10% of the heating cost of a regular (code compliant) house of the same size. This adds up to huge electricity savings right from year 1 of living in the home." LISTEN HERE...

Thermal discomfort & unhealthy buildings

New Zealand Homes are prone to many forms of Thermal Discomfort. Here are six issues nearly every New Zealander will have experienced thanks to problematic design, and six issues you won’t find with a Team Green Architects Passive House design:...

Fires: the good the bad the best!

Warmth, cosiness, hot chocolate, mulled wine, a comfy arm chair, a nice book……? The fireplace embodies a sense of home, a primeval focal point, a sense of safety. It’s one of fundamental differences between being human and being an animal. Who remembers King Louis in Jungle book singing I wannabe like you  “Give me the power of Man’s red flower so I can be like you”I get it....

What kind of house will you get if you build to the New Zealand Building Code minimum?

The New Zealand Building Code (NZBC) is a document that provides the minimum standards of construction, to ensure your building lasts for 50 years, and is a safe environment in which to live (hopefully).Unfortunately many people see the NZBC as the standard to be reached for everything to be ok, when it is in fact a minimum standard that you cannot go below without breaking the law.Professionals working in the industry are aware that more often than not, this relatively low standard is not even ...

Church Road Journey of Discovery with Team Green Architects

We are so excited to announce our TV Debut. A few months ago we were approached to be in this beautifully crafted documentary called Church Road Journey of Discovery. Within this series, Church Road Winemaker Chris Scott travels around New Zealand meeting artists and craftspeople. Siân and Mark feature in Episode 4, as the Architects searching for “Truth” in their craft....

Condensation – the compensation for cheap windows

When you bought your house, did you imagine looking through this at your incredible view? This photo was taken from our old home in Fernhill, Queenstown. I should be looking across Lake Wakatipu towards the mountains. This is the price we are expected to pay when we use metal joinery in underheated homes….and this is the part you can see…….what do you think is happening at the other dew points which you can’t see? Much of New Zealand housing stock has mould growing in the ...

Threepwood Passive House - in progress

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Lake Hayes Residences - in progress

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Dalefield Guest House - 2015 Southern Architecture Awards Winner

This is a relaxed retreat for guests and a break-out zone from the formality and large scale of the primary residence. With its pared back simplicity of getting away from it all, the building has the character of a 5 Star DOC hut. Clever structures incorporating floating cantilevers and delicate cross bracing allow a simple play of well-proportioned forms carefully inserted into the landscape. Vertical cladding and slatted screens sit comfortably within the treed setting, while the horizontal st...

Form and function - Team Green Architects featured in MINDfood magazine

This stunning Queenstown property combines cutting-edge technology with traditional building elements, making it the perfect family home all year round.  Sitting on Slope Hill Road, in between Queenstown and Arrowtown, the home of Claire and Sam Hazledine and their two daughters is a dream come true. “You look out one window and you see Coronet Peak, look out another window to Cardrona, turn again and you see Wakatipu Basin. It’s a pretty special place,” says Claire. The family moved ...