THE DESIGNFIRE Architects & Fire Consultants
About
THE DESIGNFIRE Architects & Fire consultants
We are a team of highly experienced design architects with a strong building compliance background. Our top Auckland architects will work seamlessly on your building projects through every facet of the design process.
Our holistic, multi-disciplinary design approach simplifies the process and saves you—the client—time and resources during the building process. We are also very effective with architecture projects where fire engineering design is required. Additionally, we can provide expert advice from the earliest stages of the project.
We have completed many highly regarded projects across Auckland, including commercial architecture, residential developments, offices, and alterations. No project is too big or too small. Please get in touch to discuss your project or to schedule a consultation.
THE DESIGNFIRE team also includes Fire Consultants and Passive Fire Designers who specialize in fire engineering for residential, commercial, and industrial projects. We’re experts in the strict requirements of the fire protection industry.
Credentials
Projects
Radiance Centre, Commercial Development
Commercial Architecture / Passive Fire Design Brand new food and beverage Radiance Centre PROJECT SNAPSHOT Year Completed: To be completed in 2021 Professional Service/s: Building Consent Size: Site Area: 2457m², Gross Floor Area: 1605m2 Overview This architecturally designed food and beverage centre with 17 units is one of the latest expansions of the largest food and beverage precinct in Albany. It’s located in the heart of the rapidly growing Orchard Park business park. Dynamic architectural solutions are used to represent the spirit of modern architecture. Featuring easy access, outdoor seating, a common balcony, and parking options to ensure all units can be consented for commercial, food and beverage use, Solution The site is located in the centre of Albany, walking distance to Westfield Albany and Albany Mega Centre, and has very easy to access both Albany Expressway and State Highway 1. It is one of the very last sections left in the central commercial area in Albany. ARCHIMODE our design partner invited THE DESIGNFIRE architect team to be involved for the project with Jiyae Park as the Project Lead and Marta Ozog as Project Designer. THE DESIGNFIRE approach of functional – attractive – safe, resulted in creating a design that provides 500m2 more floor space than the client initially expected. The final design is a two-story food and beverage block with total GFA of around 1600m2, which is almost 500m2 more than the client initially expected. Here is a snapshot of the key features of this architectural design from THE DESIGNFIRE team of architects: - 17 units with the 59-154m2 with outdoor dining spaces – decking areas to be surrounded with plants to provide privacy to the frontage - 50 car parks including 3 disabled spaces - bike parking area at the main entry from Oracle Drive - Outdoor seating area 126m2 - Common balcony with access to all tenancies - Varied claddings – metal cladding, panel cladding, precast concrete panel - Landscaping to complement the architecture - Main access from Oracle Drive, also connected to William Laurie Place with footpath In Detail Ample glazing and a variety of outdoor areas have been carefully selected as part of the design to enhance the connection between the building and the public. The stunning combination of solid black metal cladding and vast transparent glazing has a strong visual impact. This creates an attractive frontage visible from Oracle Drive and William Laurie Place. Our design team spotted an opportunity to cut the high point of the site in order to create an underground car park, which balances the GFA and other car park spaces. THE DESIGNFIRE also contributed to the design solutions for external stair locations, walk path and development of the colour scheme. For the next few months, we’ll be keeping an eye on construction as we are looking forward to seeing the final build to become a new Auckland destination people of all walks of life will enjoy.
Apartment Development, Worcester Street
Commercial Architecture Brand new apartment development in Worcester Street, Christchurch PROJECT SNAPSHOT Year Completed: 2017 Professional Service/s: Contract Administration Overview The apartment is a 5- level structure with penthouse units at the top level. White plastered finishes contrasted by black metal finishes are used to highlight the modern architectural form of the building. Solution Context Architects was initially involved in the concept and also the initial building consent documentation. THE DESIGNFIRE was later then engaged by our client to produce construction documentation based on the earlier design and administered the building contract to completion. In Detail The construction was on a fast track process due to its commercial nature of development. THE DESIGNFIRE closely liaised with the client who was also the constructor, the project manager, site foreman and also council to monitor the construction process. Our Technical Director Ryan Shin was the project lead for the project. He flew Christchurch fortnightly to attend the site meetings, run over construction issues, issue instructions to the team. He also reviewed the final construction form at the Practical Completion.
Wang Food Market
The Wang supermarket is an iconic commercial property in the Rosedale business district, Auckland. PROJECT SNAPSHOT Year Completed: 2019 Professional Service/s: Resource Consent, Building Consent Size:1570m2 Overview The building has a footprint of 1,570m² with a large grocery shopping area, five internal sub-tenancy units, and a warehouse area. Our design aimed to provide a simple architectural form with modern, elegant aesthetics for a high-level shopping environment. Solution To achieve the look desired, we used painted concrete precast panels with a groove cut pattern along with light colour weatherboards to create a modern exterior look with elegant decoration details. The high roof with louvres and unframed clear glass highlight the position of the main entrance. In Detail The use of the steel portal frames helps to create ample clear space for the specific requirements of the supermarket and warehouse. The high-quality internal finishing presents a comfortable, relaxing shopping experience for customers. Taking into consideration the abundant passenger flow forecasted, we designed a large car parking area with accessible space to comply with the daily traffic and parking requirements for the new supermarket. The client was extremely satisfied with the design and the new supermarket has brought new life into the original business district.
Wedding Venue Accommodation / Air B&B / Holiday Home, Old Railway Road
Additional dwelling to a wedding venue for guests to stay at. PROJECT SNAPSHOT Year Completed: 2021 Professional Service/s: Resource Consent, Building Consent Overview A client approached The DESIGNFIRE wanting to build an additional dwelling on their property. They are wanting to create a space for guests to stay the night before/of their wedding, and also using the space as a place where family can stay for extended periods of times. The difficulty is that there is no clear cut consent process or requirements for a property like this. Execution This property is a large vineyard estate that is used for corporate events and more popularly, weddings. It is located in Kumeu, 25 minutes from Auckland Central. The client came to THE DESIGNFIRE intending to build another house on the property. After designs were drawn up, they then wanted to know if anything needed to be changed to the design if they wanted to use it as a short term holiday house. When we are talking about a short term holiday house, we are talking about a house where it would be used as “visitor accommodation” in conjunction with the function centre/wedding venue. Another way of looking at the “visitor accommodation” is viewing it in a similar place to Air BnB or a Holiday house. Neither example is explicitly defined under the Building Act, as they both don’t require a manager, those staying will be known to the client, and they will be staying short term. THE DESIGNFIRE approach of functional – attractive – safe, resulted in enquiring further with relevant parties to see where this project would sit in the consents process. For the dwelling to be used as intended visitor accommodation in support of the function centre/wedding venue, on top of the information required for the Land Use Consent, you will also need to provide the following: A description of the extent and scale of the accommodation activity, A revised assessment of effects, An assessment of the relevant objectives, Policies of the Auckland unitary plan within H19 Rural Zones. Where to next? There are two options to go forward from the original dwelling consent application. Option #1 The client can revise the current application to change from ‘dwelling’ to ‘visitor accommodation’. They will also need to provide the above additional information – this will require a further assessment from Council and statutory timeframes would need to be doubled to enable this change. From there, new conditions would need to be considered and recommended. Option #2 Keep the application as is and accept the draft conditions. The report can go into the review process and the consent can be issued for the original dwelling consent application. A new resource consent application would need to be lodged to convert the dwelling into a Visitor Accommodation. No matter what, with both options, Council review is required. The building consent would have been lodged solely for a dwelling, which means if Option #2 is to be followed through, then once the resource consent is issued there would not impede for the building consent to be implemented. If Option #1 is chosen, then that means there will be a longer delay as time will be needed to revise the application and for Council to reassess the somewhat new application. This project’s challenges are going to become more and more common as people begin building homes that will also be used as short term accommodation. The DESIGNFIRE is committed to understanding the building act so that you don’t need to spend hours combing through various sections and trying to comprehend what it means for your project.
NMIT School Building
School Re-Fit and Exterior Modernisation in Upper Queen Street, Auckland, New Zealand. ROJECT SNAPSHOT Year Completed: 2014 Professional Service/s: Resource Consent, Building Consent, Fire Engineering, Passive Fire Design, Emergency Lighting Design. Size: 4000m2 Overview The building is a 5 level structure, including the basement car parking floor. It was previously used as 2 Degrees headquarter, and then later purchased by our client in conjunction with NMIT to fully refurbish and modernise the entire building for a tertiary education centre. This project involved complete re-fitting of all floors, along with full exterior modernisation. Solution For this exciting project, THE DESIGNFIRE provided full architectural design service. This includes preparation of a concept design, developed design leading to detailed working drawings including full council liaison through building consent process. We dealt with issues attentively, and there were no critical issues raised by Council and construction team. The project progressed smoothly to successful completion. We also proposed significant changes in the structural design to give the building a clean, stylish and contemporary look. In Detail This project was constructed in an extremely tight time frame, and the construction was underway at the same time as staged consenting. THE DESIGNFIRE has managed to meet this programme successfully. Our client has been delighted with our design work provided.
3 level house design, East Coast Road
PROJECT SNAPSHOT Year Completed: 2015 Professional Service/s: Building Consent Size: 370m2 It was designed as split levels to suit the contours and for easy access between spaces. Master bedroom is located at the top level for a great view. With clever planning, over 350 sqm of functional floor area was achieved on mere 420 sqm land. The library is open to the main living space below. Our client Frank Li has been very impressed with our works. “THE DESIGNFIRE has indeed become not only my company’s “Chief Designer” but also my “Personal Design Adviser”. THE DESIGNFIRE was engaged for all of our high-end residential developments and all of my holiday homes in Auckland. They were able to help me as a single point of responsibility with initial concept designs, material and colour selections right through to implementation and build, all within a set budget and timescale. I gained two fundamental benefits from employing THE DESIGNFIRE. One is the design itself. They were able to take a few basic and rather uncertain ideas of mine and show how they could be realized to best effect. They put forward the most incredible ideas for floor plans, spacial quality, interior design, and special architectural features. They were particularly amazing at coming up with solutions, and improvising, for the areas I hadn’t considered. Sourcing everything would have taken me weeks, or never at all. I have to say that they have a wonderful & trendy taste of design ideas. They always give you choices and add some interesting things in that you just wouldn’t have thought of, but that works beautifully. Another one is commercial benefits, our clients were all extremely happy with the design solution in our development, and they believe our product is different from those by other developers, And I believe The DESIGNFIRE’s design had some good influence here. Speaking of my own holiday houses, while I’ve only got to enjoy a few days in a year, most of the other times were rented out short term, and the return has been amazing, the stylish houses that The DESIGNFIRE created generated huge interest and made my houses really popular in the area.”
