Cheshire Architects is a trans-disciplinary practice. It does special projects. It engages in a huge breadth of types and scales, operating across fields of luxury and austerity, newness and age, roughness and refinement. Of those projects it delivers the extraordinary by designing, curating and cohering every part of the end experience.

In pursuing this, Cheshire leads the entire design effort, from development strategy and architecture to branding and product design. Nat moves daily from apron buttons to web design to light fittings to riverside cabins to basement cocktail dens to luxury retreats to the creation and transformation of huge chunks of the city. Amongst this work, Nat has built much of Britomart – an organic development covering nine inner-city blocks – and created and continually evolved the four-hectare City Works Depot. Nat’s work has been awarded eight Best Award gold pins in four years, is twice the winner of Metro’s designer of the year, HOME’s home of the year and twice its product of the year. His work is regularly published in global editions like Monocle, Wallpaper, Dezeen and Dwell. He seeks the extraordinary rather than the perfect in the pursuit of a new architecture and a new city.






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Ascinda has gained more than fifteen years’ experience in the London offices of both local and large multinational studios before a return to home soil saw her join the Cheshire studio in 2018. Ascinda has led large teams in the design and realisation of major, beautifully refined urban projects such as the mixed use Floral Court development in Covent Garden, and luxury hospitality work such as Bulgari’s flagship London hotel. Ascinda is a powerful leader who is equally capable wielding a pencil across a blank page as she is generating exquisite detailing or standing alongside a builder on site.

Project Lead:
Scapegrace distillery, Private house, Remuera, Bancorp Britomart offices, Buckland Masonic heritage façade restoration, Floral Court, London (KPF), Lucan Place, London (KPF)

Project Collaborations:
Stanbeth Excelsoir & Bounce Hotel, Catalina Bay, Stage 3, Te Arai Lodge, Earls Court Village Masterplan, London (KPF & Farrells ), Bulgari Hotel, London (Squire + Partners & ACPVP), One Tower Bridge, London (Squire + Partners & Conran + Partners)






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DJ leads a large team in the studio. He is a critical collaborator in almost every hospitality project it undertakes. DJ shapes everything – from the philosophical ideals and atmospheres underpinning a project, to the realisation of those ideals in nuts, bolts, grease traps and bespoke furniture. He is as capable a project- and construction-manager as he is a water-colourist. DJ is the editor of the Mandarin-language MOAM magazine, and heads the studio’s relationship with its Chinese clients.

Project Lead:
46 Parnell, Apartment for a Writer, Britomart Country Club, Cafe Hanoi, Library House, Milse, MOAM, The Store, Ortolana, Xuxu, Ponsonby restaurant

Project Collaborations:
Mandarin, Mangawhai House, Miss Clawdy






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In Ellie’s London work, projects of huge adaptive re-use sit alongside new buildings of large-format commercial nature. In Auckland, Ellie confidently leads the studio’s largest teams in projects of similar scale, pursuing change in the city through sites of mixed, transformative use. Ellie is that rare person in architecture whose design work is insightful and lyrical, and whose project delivery experience and capacity for management are equally solid. Her broad strengths shape and amplify the studio’s design intent throughout architecture’s complex design, documentation and implementation phases.

Project Lead:
SKHY, 18 Sale St, Morningside, Excelsior Stanbeth Britomart, Masonic Buckland Britomart






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Emily refuses to accept disciplinary or typological boundaries within design. She leads a team of designers that push the studio’s work beyond building and into interior, graphic, product, web, furniture, lighting, textile, decorative and costume design. With them, she pursues totally immersive experiences realised through a fierce commitment to the bespoke. Emily is pursuing the extraordinary from master plan to apron button.

Project Lead:
Northern Club Extension, Ford Loft Two Residence, Northern Club Bistro, Pilkington’s Restaurant and Bar, Tantalus Winery Waiheke, Alibi Brewery Waiheke, The Esplanade, No.7 Balmac, The Tooth Company, Dry & Tea- Newmarket, City Works Depot, Britomart, Freemans Bay and Queenstown Residences, Whites & Co. Britomart, Food Truck Garage

Project Collaborations:
Hotel Britomart Interior, Fielding House Interiors, SKHY marketing and interiors, Oaken, Saan, Mandarin Ortolana, Milse, The Store, Miss Clawdy, Mi Piaci Melbourne, XuXu

‍‍Object:
Fulcrum Table lamp,Torchon Pendant, Foundry Floor lamp, Parison Pendant, Parison Table lamp, Northern Club Bistro Pendant
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Fraser has run his own very successful practice, producing inventive and beautiful residential and hospitality work under the banner of Fraser Horton Design. He joined the Cheshire studio in support of its ambitions for New Zealand and global architecture. Fraser’s skills are broad reaching; from the holistic leadership of highly detailed buildings, to key management contributions in the studio itself, to the leadership of the studio’s digital modelling, virtual reality, image creation and art direction efforts. Fraser’s appetite is for crafting beautiful architecture that advances and expands our culture. This is evident in everything he does.

Project Lead:
Vermont Street House, Kauaroa Bay Lodge
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‍Project Collaborations:
Kings - Lunn Ave






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George is obsessed with detail, richness and a concentrated, crisply resolved architecture. He applies those obsessions broadly: from the layered improvisations of restaurants to large-format inner city transformations and intensely considered, bespoke residences. For George, this means fighting just as hard for custom-made door handles as for the efficiencies and potentials of multi-storey planning. George has a lead role in the studio’s work, running projects in support of the continually evolving whole.

Project Lead:
Miss Clawdy, Mi Piaci, Quay Altrans Britomart, Barrington Sofrana Britomart, City Works Depot Spiral Stair, Waiheke House, Ford Lofts, The Northern Club, Dadelszen Parnell, Parnell Loft, Hinemoa Street Home

‍Project Collaborations:
Ortolana, Milse, The Store, Riddell Road Home







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Kieren draws on broad experience, from master-planning huge projects in China to his more recent London based commercial work and the construction of small rural houses. Kieren brings this experience to bear on architecture in a manner that is as technically intelligent and procedurally robust as it is ideologically committed. He enjoys equally the mud and dust of the construction site and the challenge and politics of design management. He is committed to the pursuit of architectural clarity, cohesion and material honesty, which he believes is attainable irrespective of a project’s constraints. These attributes help Kieren play a key role in leading projects with a global cast of clients and consultants. It also means that Kieren treats documentation as a design project in its own right, driving the studio’s program of continual documentation critique and refinement. Kieren established the studio’s Wellington office.
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Project Lead:
Vineyard Villa at The Landing, Clifftop House II, Clifftop Gym
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‍Project Collaborations:
Tara Iti Clubhouse, Vermont Street House





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Mark is an architect of fifteen years’ experience in Auckland, London and New York. His prior projects range from highly crafted bespoke homes to new campus developments for the University of Auckland and several British universities. Mark artfully balances strong, clear design ambitions with a calm, focused project management style. He is as a consequence a highly effective leader of large teams and critical projects, forging strong architecture from complex briefs and stakeholder teams.
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‍Project Lead:
Tara Iti enlargements




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Pam is a supremely calm, confident and focused maker of architecture, designing comprehensive and carefully thought-out projects of integrity and efficiency. She works across a breadth of scales and a depth of project stages and methodologies, pursuing a strong, humane architecture. Pam’s great ability to organise the demands of complex briefs into strong architecture is matched by an outstanding ability to establish and manage the process of tendering and contract administration.
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Project Lead:
St Heliers Church, Mission Bay housing, Penthouse development in Ponsonby
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‍Project Collaborations:
Mission Bay masterplan





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Sarah has been a key collaborator with Pip and Nat since her arrival in the studio in 2007. Her speed and relentless curiosity empower an incisive approach to design at all scales – from the urban master plan to the occupation of a single room. Sarah’s is a beautiful combination of technical and design intelligence. She seeks the strongest solutions by attacking every problem from simultaneous angles. The result is an engaged, rapid, and responsive process of design, technical inquiry and implementation. The strength of that process enables Sarah to move confidently and effectively between projects of all types, scales and phases, applying the same depth of architectural intelligence to all.

Project Lead:
Mission Bay masterplan and commercial redevelopment, Rhubarb Lane

‍Project Collaborations:
Freemans Bay residence, Merchant stores, Private houses in Northland and Herne Bay, Mt Albert church, Stanbeth & Excelsior Britomart, Church In The West, Catalina Bay Hobsonville, Yacht Club Apartments Hobsonville






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Simon undertook several years of design and construction management in London before joining the studio in 2007. In the face of great complexity Simon maintains a continual calm, ensuring robust control of architecture and the processes of its implementation. Simon’s work leading Q Theatre delivered a complex and energetic building from an ambitious and multi-faceted brief, in an astonishingly constrained site. Simon’s experience integrating theatrical, commercial and hospitality imperatives at Q has since supported his work on large mixed-use projects, the nascent Tantalus Estate on Waiheke Island and the large-scale Catalina Bay development.

Project Lead:
Catalina Bay, Tantalus and Alibi, Shed 12, Q Theatre, Plaza Apartments, Waterside Apartments, Stanex







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Stephen was a founding architect at Cheshire. He and Pip have collaborated for almost two decades. Stephen’s extraordinary sensitivity to space, light, material and assembly has, in that time, been brought to bear on a series of the studio’s major works. His ability to trace a finishing detail right through to its root in the first rough slab pour reveals a profound understanding of how great architecture is made. Stephen presently leads the most intensely detailed projects of the studio, roving from heritage loft conversions to private clubhouses set amongst coastal dunes.

Project Lead:
Hilltop House, House at Takapuna, Maritime Building, Mountain Landing Lodge, NSSC, Tara Iti Clubhouse, The Folly, The Landing Winery

‍Project Collaborations:
1885, Café Hanoi, Q Theatre, Stanex Britomart, Ford Lofts, Vineyard House, Fielding House






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Calum brings a resolute working process to bear on architecture. Having worked in media design in London, Calum returned to New Zealand in 2007 to expand his skills within the field of architecture. In that time Calum has worked for Cheshire and run his own architecture practice. He now works exclusively for the Cheshire Studio. Calum specialises in a highly focused architecture leading the complex detailing of several large scale city developments, and the intricacies of complex geometries such as the asymmetrical ellipse with entarsis that defines the tower of the Hilltop House.

‍Project Collaborations:
Stanbeth & Excelsior, Q Theatre, Gabriel House (ML), Hilltop house & Gymnasium (ML), Hilltop Observatory (ML), SKHY2, Hotel Britomart, Church at Massey






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Jin is an advanced architectural graduate of twelve years’ intensive local and international experience. Most recently Jin has been based in Hong Kong and Shanghai, playing a key role in the design, documentation and execution of those cities’ flagship stores for the brilliant blow-up fashion brand Gentle Monster. Combined with her sophisticated design approach and her prior involvement in shaping large, acclaimed Auckland restaurants, Jin brings to architecture a beautifully fused consideration of architecture, interior and human experience.

‍Project Collaborations:
Britomart Projects, Northern Club Interiors, Ford Lofts - Loft 2 interiors






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The breadth of Kyra’s experience in practice in London and Berlin reveals her capacity and appetite for architecture in all forms. At one end, Kyra has worked with master makers to painstakingly detail solid-timber casework and thread piped services through the immutable masonry of heritage-listed residences. At the other, she has led the fabrication and deployment of large-format, complex geometries in support of the global work of Berlin artist Katarina Grosse. This collision of contemporary art and traditional craft reveals the breadth of Kyra’s appetite and abilities. She is now bringing that spectrum to bear on the studio’s large format city scale projects.

‍Project Collaborations:
SKHY and SKHY 2





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Tom holds masters degrees in both Automotive Design and Architecture. He first worked for the Cheshire studio a decade ago, returning to New Zealand with his family to rejoin the studio permanently in 2016. Tom has worked on billion dollar projects for Google, was integral in the development of London’s flagship White Collar Factory, master planning Windsor Castle, and designing race cars for Colin McRae Rally. Tom’s strong sketching and digital skills combine with a robust methodological focus to create a powerful designer fully engaged in the three-dimensional possibilities and complexities of architecture.

‍Project Collaborations:
Britomart Central, The Hotel Britomart, A Cabin in The Jura, Shortland Street Office




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Aiden is a graduate architect of discipline, precision and material sensitivity. He has experience in several imminent Auckland studios, anchored by two years of intensive work at the infamous Portuguese studio of Aires Mateus. His work at Aires Mateus spanned from luxury apartment and villa projects to major museums and an installation for the Venice Biennale of Architecture. Aiden’s work at Cheshire extends that elegant, minimalist foundation and he plays a key role in many of Cheshire’s most disciplined projects.

‍Project Collaborations:
Studio Red Tearoom, The Hotel Britomart, Ford Lofts







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Alicia leads the studio’s front of house team. Before arriving at Cheshire, Alicia led the planning and execution of large format corporate and construction industry events. It is Alicia’s love for people and the excellence of their collective endeavour that led her to pursue the management of the studio. Alicia balances a warm smile with a fierce desire for organisation.







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Cameron is a graduate from the University of Auckland School of Architecture. Cameron is fuelled by the ever-growing potency of the digital in architecture. He traverses a breadth of skills from 3D modelling, parametric design, programming and digital image creation. Cameron worked in the Cheshire studio during his study, leading with Pip an innovative multi-unit residential project with local Iwi. Since joining Cheshire full time in 2019, Cameron has had a key role in the research and masterplanning work of Redhills Green.

‍Project Collaborations:
Ngati Tamaoho Housing, Tara Iti Clubhouse Extension, AUT Wisdom Lab, Redhills







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James balances the technical demands of the studio with his vital role in several hospitality and multi-story projects. James’s focus and energy is unshakable. He has demonstrated outstanding skill in coordinating the complex interaction of services and structure. James is equally versed in the fast paced operational demands and atmospheric nature of hospitality, and is deeply engaged in the culture, craft and detail of coffee. James has recently taken a lead role within the studio’s hospitality projects.

‍Project Collaborations:
SKHY, Mission Bay Master Planning, The Candy Shop, Ponsonby Fire Station, Te Rauponga Masterplanning, Private House in Northland, Restaurants at Britomart





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Jared has spent almost half a decade painstakingly modelling, cataloguing and documenting world-heritage sites in the Antarctic – including the huts that supported the polar expeditions of Scott and Shackleton. He has worked closely with Pip throughout those projects, supporting a global team in the carefully orchestrated and technically inventive stabilisation and preservation of these precious buildings. Jared’s determined documentation plays a critical part in the location and tracking of the many thousands of artefacts that make up the collections within the explorers huts.

‍Project Collaborations:
The Ross Island Heritage conservation project, Antartica






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Karen leads the company’s financial management and performance analysis. Having previously owned and run her own business in the construction products industry. Karen is highly experienced and provides commercial and procurement support to projects as well as the practice.






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Latoya has calmly managed the commercial demands of the office since 2011. She has continually shaped and refined Cheshire’s accounting systems in parallel with the studio’s evolving approach to its projects and is responsible for all of its billing, accounts receivable and annual reporting.






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Lauren is an energetic and focused designer at all scales. She brings a strong emphasis on elegant architectural outcomes to the complexity of large scale project design development. Lauren builds on her experience of high end British housing to foreground the detailed interaction of building elements that create outstanding architecture.

Project Lead:
Matapouri House, SKHY 2

‍Project Collaborations:
Northern Club, Wintergarden, Buckland Masonic, Vermont Street House, Dune House







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Lucy’s beautiful and materially intelligent architectural graduate work brought her to the studio’s attention. She has exploited that sensitivity to forge a key role in the studio over the last seven years, seeking the seamless integration of architecture and its interior occupation. Lucy’s work covers a broad spectrum, from commercial space planning and heritage based refurbishment to the sourcing of hand-made lamps. Lucy works for Cheshire from Rome, alongside her postgraduate studies in heritage architecture. Lucy is a driving force in the studio’s commitment to extraordinary heritage projects and interventions.

‍Project Collaborations:
The Hanger, Dry & Tea Britomart, Queenstown and Freemans Bay residences, Tantalus winery, VMob Britomart, Maritime Building extension, HLC office, Catalina Bay, Extensive adaptive reuse of historic naval air force hangers and workshops at Catalina Bay





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Martin is a Swiss architect of more than two decade’s construction experience in and around St Gallen, with several years in the atelier of Forrer Steiger. Martin’s time working in glass, metal, concrete and timber construction on Swiss building sites affords him a powerful insight into construction methodologies and labour considerations. Now permanently based in the Cheshire studio, Martin’s work is centered on those projects with a high concern for richness of material and clarity and discipline of detailing.

‍Project Lead:
Matakana Luxury Guest House, Hepburn Street

‍Project Collaborations:
Britomart Hotel, ACC Building, Governance Centre, Hinemoa Street



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Mehul is a recent graduate from the University of Auckland School of Architecture. He has an aptitude for creating highly refined, atmospheric digital imagery and is already a leading figure within the studio’s image creation division. Although new to the studio, Mehul is actively contributing and assisting in the design, exploration and development of significant urban, industrial and residential projects.

‍Project Collaborations:
Britomart Hotel Laneway, Bledisloe Laneway, Scapegrace Distillery, Hideaki Fukutake House, The Takapuna Urban Development Project




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Shaun is a graduate architect with a rich background in community and social design. Shaun’s work with The Roots – an entrepreneurial agency in Otara, South Auckland – provides a brave, rich counterpoint to his academic success and teaching work for Unitec. Shaun pairs a high tempo of design exploration with a very finely grained concern for detail and is bringing that formidable mix to bear on hospitality, hotel and apartment projects in the Cheshire studio.
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‍Project Lead:
Te Manawa Residential Alteration

‍Project Collaborations:
The Hotel Britomart, Eat My Lunch (Britomart), The Yard commercial and hospitality development, Yacht Club Apartments, Catalina Bay, Catalina Bay Streetscape, Morningside hospitality development
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