Christchurch practice, Inline Architecture, is run by husband and wife team, Kelly and Cameron Pluck. A labour of love, their practice was created out of a shared passion for architecture, design and the built environment. Providing a combined 20 years industry experience and celebrating five years in business this year; Kelly and Cameron put their achievements down to loyal customers, good relationships with industry and hard work.
We sat down with Kelly to find out more about that makes them tick and drives their business forward.
What is your vision for Inline Architecture?
Our vision is simple; to guide people to entrust us to turn their project ideas into reality through considered design solutions, out of the box thinking and creative problem solving.
What types of projects do you work on?
We work with a lot of existing homes; from character villas and bungalows through to recent builds that might need re-configuration internally or perhaps a well-considered addition to make it more suitable to modern living. We get a real thrill out of completing extensive renovations and additions and enjoy the reward of visiting a completed project to witness how the renovation has improved the client’s lifestyle.
Residential new builds are also another prominent part of our business, with varying site complexities, environments, topography and budgets. We also are involved in townhouse developments, light commercials, landscaping and EQ consultancy.
What types of projects would you like to do more of, where is your passion?
We are expected to say that we want the ‘skies-the-limit’ projects where we can really test our imagination and have flexibility with budget and manage the design through to completion. When we get the opportunity, we are delighted! But in reality, not all projects work this way. Each project is tailored to suit the client’s lifestyle, budget, services required and project delivery. We get a real thrill out of helping clients transform their home into a modern house that catapults their lifestyle. And the same applies with new builds, developments and other services we provide.
You are a husband and wife team - what do you think this brings to the table?
We get asked this a lot. We find we have the advantage of seeing situations from both ‘female’ and ‘male’ perspective and come to a really balanced solution for our clients.
When our ideas do collide, we will be found siting at each end of the table both sketching out our ideas and then we will swap our drawings and critique each other until we have a well resolved solution.
Clients often wonder how it works but it is simply good communication and a passion for what we do.
Are there any challenges with being a woman in the architecture industry?
Of course! Being 5ft 2, 30 years of age and female often comes with some pre-conceptions of skill and experience. I love to rise to the ‘challenge’, especially when the high vis on site comes out. There have been many robust conversations with trades over the years.
What has been your most memorable or favourite project to date? And why?
There are many but building our own home would be the most memorable, most challenging and rewarding project. The clients just couldn’t make up their mind!
Every architectural designer or architect should build or do alterations for themselves; all their future projects will benefit from the lessons learned. The reality of paying the bills, gave us a better perspective of budget, detailing and decisions and has made us better designers.
Having done this early in our career has definitely paid off and we often share our experience with clients, particularly when discussing overall ‘project cost’ not just the build cost. It’s the small things like window treatments, landscaping and furniture that always get forgotten.
What do you think is the biggest issue facing the New Zealand architecture and or construction industry? And why?
We think the biggest and growing issue is increasing construction costs, tender undercutting, compliance costs, carbon emissions and NZ building standards. Being that our little country is so far separated from the rest of the world. We are so far behind. Where projects have been built and priced yesterday, they can fluctuate the next. We feel like one day there will be no room for out-of-the-box creativity in architecture
You have designed projects all over New Zealand - is there a city of NZ that inspires you?
It would have to be our own city, Christchurch, and for everything we have been through in the past decade.
Inspiration comes from all of the thought provoking, heritage, unusual, terribly ugly and utterly brilliant architecture that has or is being built (and re-built) throughout the city. Especially the city centre where the re-defined city blocks, Avon river loop and new public buildings make for a city we want to talk about.
For more information visit Inline Architecture's website. Find out more about Cameron and Kelly.