Designs on new approach

Sam Kebbell says his firm creates workplaces or homes that embody a client's values. Photo / Supplied

Sam Kebbell's career as an architect has taken him places - North America, Europe, Iran, but it's New Zealand that excites him.

"We are building the culture of the youngest country on earth. That's a staggeringly cool thing to do," Kebbell said.

Such a young country is, he thinks, understandably, in a first-draft phase. And a lot of new-world cities feel this way. From the window in his Ghuznee St office in Wellington, it's easy to see what he is talking about, however he sees integrity in many of the city's buildings, on The Terrace, Lambton Quay and other areas. Discussions in the architectural community are lively.

"As they become livelier in the public [domain] the quality of buildings will go up."

Kebbell and his colleagues at KebbellDaish architects in Wellington design houses, office fit-outs and interiors that include furniture for exhibition spaces such as the Blumhardt Gallery in the New Dowse, Lower Hutt, and the commercial and interior fit-out for Saatchi and Saatchi in Wellington. His team focuses on designing for the client's culture.

"Saatchi and Saatchi had the right number of offices and meeting rooms but they had the wrong culture. They wanted it to be much more flexible, more lively, more creative and more like an artist's studio than a bad 1980s office. They knew, unless the architecture was able to embody those values, they would never fully achieve that."

The design the firm came up with allowed people to bring a spirit of playfulness into the culture and make the changes the client wanted.

Kebbell says the same applies to houses when people have a commitment to living according to their values, what they believe is important. "People typically want their kids and their community to buy into that as well and they want their culture to thrive. We bring architecture to that culture and stimulate it [giving] advice on the kinds of aesthetic that might work."

Around the office, several models give an idea of the elegant houses he and his colleagues have designed.

"What we bring to any culture is a body of knowledge that broadens out the options; learning from history's mistakes as well as opportunities that are being taken in the world at the moment."

Some of it is technical knowledge, solving cultural problems with technical solutions, but the firm specialises in the front-end, designer elements where ideas are seeded and refined.

Kebbell also teaches part-time in Design Studio at Victoria University's School of Architecture and Design, a position he has held since 2002. His career was not, however, a straightforward plunge into study from secondary school, although an early enthusiasm for building tree huts in the orchard at prep school raised the idea of architecture early on. At secondary school, Kebbell was good at mathematics, physics and drawing; subjects that were considered synonymous with engineering. He applied for engineering, was accepted but, his heart not in it, pulled out at the eleventh hour.

Chasing a "more romantic vocation" in the skiing and wine industries, Kebbell spent the next few years in the outdoors. Architecture as an option resurfaced during a long car drive and conversation with a friend. Then he talked to as many architects as he could.

"I caught up with [Christchurch Designing a future for NZ architect] Charlie Nott doing his final project as a student. Seeing the school of architecture, the drawings and brilliant models everywhere [was inspirational]. Even now it's fun. I haven't looked back since."

Kebbell completed his Bachelor of Architecture (1st class honours) in 1997 at Victoria University. During his final year, he went on exchange to the Penn State University architecture programme in Rome where he flatted for six months in a 16th century building. In Wellington, he and partner Sarah live in a 1940s house, which was the first European house to be built on that part of Mt Victoria.

"The sense of virgin ground here is amazing. There is [now] more opportunity to look at our buildings in a much more long-term, sophisticated, nuanced way."

After undergraduate studies, Kebbell gained a Masters of Design (Distinction) from the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University in 1999, majoring in history and theory, with emphasis on the relationship between architecture and the other arts.

While working in New York, he felt he was part of a maintenance crew.

"Here was this massive empire and a very little me, detailing beautiful furniture for New York's upper-middle classes. It was good stuff for the discipline but I didn't want to get to the end of my career and realise I'd missed out on the changes in New Zealand. I wanted to be part of it."

So on April 1, 2002, he and architect John Daish set up an architecture practice they intend to close on March 31, 2032. Opportunities to travel have continued. In 2009, Kebbell was invited to Iran where he contributed to workshops designed to stimulate Iranian architects.

"I talked about tactics for building a culture." And that was one of the youngest, advising one of the oldest civilisations in the world.

"They have been politically isolated and we have been geographically isolated."

The only frustration for him in New Zealand he says is the lack of enough highly skilled craftsmen in some trades, as this can limit designs. He loves his work and the chance to design high-quality buildings that will last a long time.

There are three accredited architecture programmes offered in New Zealand, at Unitec Institute of Technology, University of Auckland and Victoria University of Wellington. Graduates of architecture programmes must complete two to three years of on-the-job practical work experience before they can apply to become a registered architect.

As a pre-requisite for registration, candidates must have taken "an architectural project competently through all its project phases and have a sound knowledge of legal and contractual issues related to the practice of architecture."

(The NZ Institute of Architects - nzia.co.nz)