Did you want to be an architect when you were growing up?

Yes! My mother has kept my highly detailed ‘developed surface drawings’, which I began working on from the age of eight. They document a slightly ‘off’ awareness of spatial planning, and feature rugs, cats, teacups and lamps at odds with each other in scale. A few visitors left our home with new floor plans. I also constructed many Barbie pavilions out of videotapes. I told everyone I was going to be an architect and have never strayed.

Can you describe your architecture career, thus far?

In my last year at The University of Auckland I worked for Cheshire Architects and on graduation continued with them for two years. My time there was a wonderful experience and I was lucky to spend it with very talented people. I then followed my surfer husband to Ireland. We lived in Dublin and I worked for a small firm in the midst of the global financial crisis. Work dwindled, but due to residual demand for residential houses, I was lucky to retain my job. My boss was a true Irish charmer – his clients adored him. We left on our wanderlust trip around Europe in a van, ‘Frank the Tank’, for four months, pulling my husband into cathedrals and architectural relics along the way. On returning to New Zealand I worked on a few projects for family as well as tutoring interior design at Unitec. I’m presently at RTA Studio, working with great people. We’ve just moved into a newly fitted-out space in Ponsonby and are having a pool tournament on Friday. I am already ‘chalking my cue’.

What are you working on at the moment?

At RTA I’m working on the refurbishment and extension of a retail arcade with exposed trusses, old crooked concrete walls and new grunty welded-steel insertions. At the beginning of the year we moved into our brand new apartment on the edge of the motorway with views through the trees of Grafton gully and the neon signs of hotels. Designed and built by my husband and father-in-law, it’s a true family affair. My Dad and I have recently worked on a few collaborative projects, as he’s a dab hand on the welder. The latest is a new pendant light we designed and made for the apartment at a cost of just $7. My pottery hobby is also a never-ending work in progress; I am obsessed with glazes.

What do you enjoy most about working in architecture?

The many people I get to work with along the way, who all help to bring a building together: developing relationships with clients, engineers and contractors is very rewarding. Recently I loved getting the chance to work with some very skilled joiners on an office fit-out. It’s extremely satisfying going on site and seeing a project come to fruition when you get the chance.

If you could choose to design a house anywhere in New Zealand, where would it be?

Deep in the bush – a tree house with a library of books and pottery.