What can we do for you and who are we?
What can we help to create for you?
We are an award winning architecture and interior design studio who want to help you on your journey to create beautiful, sustainable spaces that can inspire you and improve your wellbeing. We aim to create high quality, functional designs that are modern and yet timeless. This project may be a new build project, such as a new home, or a renovation of an existing building or space.
We work on projects both small and large. We enjoy the personalisation, collaboration and craftsmanship that comes with smaller projects, while larger projects often offer more opportunities for innovation and strategic thinking. We see architecture and design as a tool that can both enhance your brand while offering entrepreneurial opportunities for your project.
We offer architectural design services for residential, commercial and public projects. We also offer interior design services for your project where we can create designs for both hard fitout (kitchens, bathrooms, cabinetry and finishes) and soft fitout (furniture and furnishings.) Refer to ‘Services’ or ‘Nest’ to find out more about our range of services.
While our main places of design have been in Australasia, Europe, UK & USA, we are open and interested in designing projects all around the world. We provide remote consultancy services to achieve this.
What is our process?
For most projects, we start off with creating a conceptual design for you, based on your project brief. We then work with you to develop the design further so that it is more of a concrete idea with spaces and sizes articulated. This ‘developed design’ can then be taken and worked through on a technical level with local architects or draughtsmen. In some cases we are able to work on a more detailed level and carry through the design to get building permits.
Our non-residential projects generally require a strategic consultation phase at the start in order to develop the brief more accurately. This ensures that the brief reflects what is truly wanted by yourselves, the client, as well as any key stakeholders.
About the founder - Jo Aitken
Jo is a European & New Zealand qualified architect and interior designer from New Zealand. She has almost 2 decades of experience working on projects around the world. Key projects that Jo has designed and/or led have won various Architectural Awards including the Asia Pacific Public Service Award, World Architecture Awards Finalist and New Zealand Gold Medal.
Jo spent some years working in Paris, where she worked as a collaborator with top French Architect, Jean Nouvel, and top Austrian Architect, Dietmar Feichtinger. Jo has since been based between Auckland, London and Copenhagen, where she has been working on the design and delivery of a number of public, cultural, commercial and residential projects. During that time Jo has worked on the larger projects with top architecture practices, Patterson Associates, Warren and Mahoney, Monk Mackenzie and Rosan Bosch Studio in Copenhagen. Having worked, lived & studied in Paris, Copenhagen, London, Auckland & Rome, these places have been very influential to her way of designing and way of living. Please click link here to see her Public project experience.
She carried out her initial 8 years of training in Architecture in New Zealand and Italy. She later carried out a 2 year post-graduate Masters in Architecture, specialising in Strategic Design and Entrepreneurship, focusing on creating sustainable, holistic designs with supportive business models, from the Copenhagen Business School and the Royal Danish Academy of Architecture and Design. Along with her Italian Design partner, Letizia Allianelli, they won the DTU Sustainable Circular Societies Start Up Competition in Copenhagen.
As an architect who is passionate about improving our lives through design, Jo was Head of Design Advocacy for the New Zealand Institute of Architects in Auckland, a regular Guest Critic at the University of Auckland and have judged the A+W Awards and New Zealand Interior Awards. With an eye on the future, she became an Ambassador for Microsoft Surface and Hololens.
