“When I first arrived in New Zealand from the UK almost 20 years ago, I was really surprised at how cold the houses were, and then, as I started practising, I was shocked at the lack of consideration and understanding of thermal efficiencies in buildings,” says Siân Taylor, Architect and Owner of Team Green Architects.
“Back in 2005, insulation - and, subsequently, heating - was treated as an after-thought,” Siân says. “With minimal insulation requirements in the NZ Building Code and no requirement to avoid cold bridging, it was obvious that comfort and warmth were not high on the agenda. This was compounded by the specification of completely inefficient electric slab heating systems that were totally uneconomical for even the wealthiest of clients to run.”
As she settled into her new life in Queenstown, Siân experienced first-hand some of the challenges presented by poorly insulated New Zealand housing. “The homes I was living in had ice on the inside of the windows in winter, and I quickly learned that this was not unusual. Everywhere I went – even the supposedly warm North Island – the homes were generally cold, damp, and poorly heated. This just seemed so wrong and so bad for the planet.”
Determined to shift the low-performance paradigm, in 2011 Siân became one of the first two New Zealand’s Certified Passive House Designer, a milestone that she says totally transformed her approach to architecture. “I knew that the Passive House method was what was needed to solve the issues I was seeing, but the company I was working for at the time wasn’t ready yet to move forward in that space. So I decided to go out on my own with Team Green Architects. Within six months my partner Mark joined me, and within a year we had three staff. As architects, Mark and I wanted to show that it was possible to combine high-performance building with quality architecture and hold both in equal importance.
“We are now acting as sustainable and Passive House consultants for projects and other architects who don’t have this skill set, and I am working hard to educate other architects and designers through consultation and keynote speaking engagements at events.”
“The Passive House method - airtight, high levels of insulation, European windows, Balanced Heat Exchange Ventilation - shaped everything we did in the early days of our company. This approach brought its own challenges, as we had to learn and create new ways to use the Passive House method which often meant using products and materials that were not common to NZ. But we were committed and we forged ahead; now this is all second nature to us.”
Siân says she always knew she wanted to be a designer of some kind; her passion for it took hold on summer holidays as a child. “My parents took us on long caravan trips around Europe, and I used to think of new designs for the caravan. I was also fascinated with the trend of re-designing barns and converting old buildings, such as churches, into houses. When Grand Designs came on TV for the first time, I realised I really wanted to do this for a living. At this point, I had already been accepted to study maths and physics at university but was lucky enough to be able to swap to architecture just before I started.”
Performance challenges aside, there were a number of positives that first drew Siân to practice in New Zealand, she says. “The standard of architecture was really high. The projects that I was able to work on were completely different to anything I could have worked on in the UK. It was rare that you would ever design a complete house there, let alone as a junior in a practice, but in NZ the first project I was given was a $1M house - a big budget at the time.”
With Team Green Architects, Siân and Mark are delivering on their vision to create low-energy and low-carbon New Zealand homes that combine beautiful design with optimum performance. “Our specialisation is collaborating with clients to design bespoke dream homes, created thoughtfully to ensure minimal environmental impact. This can either be creating a building from scratch or converting or improving an existing space.”
Their Passive House design approach has yielded multiple award-winning projects and led Siân to co-found the New Zealand Architects Declare movement, an initiative encouraging architects to unite and declare a climate and biodiversity emergency. As she looks ahead, Siân is enthusiastically increasing Team Green’s presence in the consulting and education space, which is where she says her current passion lies. “We are now acting as sustainable and Passive House consultants for projects and other architects who don’t have this skill set, and I am working hard to educate other architects and designers through consultation and keynote speaking engagements at events.”
She is also excited to translate her sustainability passions into carbon reduction across all aspects of their growing portfolio. “We’re currently exploring low-toxicity and natural building materials as well as moving into new building typologies like community buildings and multi-unit residential spaces. We are about to start a new childcare and community facility for a small town nearby, which we are really excited about as it will be new territory for us and a great way to share a better standard of building with a wider community. I like working with people and therefore love working on dream homes or community-led projects. I love the process of creating something and making things better than they were.”
To connect with Siân and learn more, visit https://www.teamgreenarchitects.co.nz/, follow Team Green Architects on Instagram and Facebook, and connect with Siân on LinkedIn.
