Brett Hulley Architecture

Brett Hulley Architecture Architecture shaped by its environment. We design architecture through careful response to site, climate, and client lifestyle.

Homes that sit naturally within their environment, perform well year-round, and feel effortless to live in.

Another project that's starting construction!Set among native forest near Whangārei, this project was a real treat to wo...
17/05/2026

Another project that's starting construction!

Set among native forest near Whangārei, this project was a real treat to work on.

The client values nature more than most - so there was a real focus on...
- strong indoor/outdoor connection
- natural materials (earth, clay renders, reclaimed timber beams/posts)
- minimising environmental impact
- and a home that works with the local climate/passive design to minimise energy use

Really looking forward to seeing my client living in it - but I'll have to be patient. My client is going to do a lot of the construction work himself and with his sons - wanting the home to become a place full of memory for him and his family - how good is that!?

Anyway, excuse all the exclamation marks... I'm just a bit excited about this one.

One of the biggest shocks for people building a home on remote or rural land is how quickly costs can escalate - especia...
11/05/2026

One of the biggest shocks for people building a home on remote or rural land is how quickly costs can escalate - especially if things aren’t planned well from the beginning.

What people often forget...

The house itself is only part of the equation.

On rural and isolated sites, costs can ramp up quickly through things like:
- accessways
- earthworks
- power supply
- water storage
- wastewater systems
- geotechnical requirements
- district plan / consenting requirements
- transport logistics
- difficult site conditions

A thoughtful site assessment before design begins, and a cost estimate assessment baked in to the process, can often save an enormous amount of money, stress, and future compromise.

They're not the most glamorous stages in the architectural process, but they're definitely some of the most important for a successful and stress-free project.

Here's my office.I call it “The Hut.” It’s where I work from every day.- Commute: 3 minute walk through native forest.- ...
05/05/2026

Here's my office.

I call it “The Hut.” It’s where I work from every day.

- Commute: 3 minute walk through native forest.
- Noise pollution: tūī, pūkeko, pīwakawaka, riroriro.
- Air pollution: rīmu pollen.
- Traffic: mozzies after dark.

Seeing this, it’s probably no surprise that my focus is residential architecture that works with nature.

When you’re surrounded by it every day, you can’t help but get a feel for how it actually behaves - the sun, the weather, the contours, the vegetation, the way a place wants to be used.

You stop thinking of buildings as objects placed on the land, and start thinking of them as something that belongs to it - shaped by the site, not imposed on it.

That shift changes everything.

But to be honest, the main reason I work from here... I just love being in the bush!

Most people unknowingly skip the most important step in building a home. They jump straight into full design, plans, det...
30/04/2026

Most people unknowingly skip the most important step in building a home.

They jump straight into full design, plans, details... Before anyone has really understood their site.

And that's how you end up with:
- Houses that fight against the sun instead of working with it.
- Wind exposure that you can't design your way out of.
- Spaces that tick the boxes on paper, but feel off in real life.

The truth is...
The most important design decisions happen before the house design even begins.
- Orientation
- Relationship to landscape
- Where to open up, and where to protect

Get the fundamentals right, and the rest is easier, cheaper and better.

Get them wrong and you'll be compensating forever.

That's why I've started offering something a bit different:
A Site Analysis & Early Design Direction Package

No endless meetings.
No full-service commitments.

Just:
- A deep read of your land (sun, wind, topography, flow)
- Clear guidance on where and how best to build
- A strong design direction you can confidentially move forward with however you like.

It's the highest leverage input you can get at the start of a project - and often the difference between a house that works, and one that doesn't.

If you're in the early stages of a project and want to make sure you get the fundamentals right, send me a message.

Or if you're just curious, I'm happy to talk it through.

👍

Architecture feels out of reach for most New Zealanders at the moment, but I've got an idea.Times are tough, there's no ...
25/03/2026

Architecture feels out of reach for most New Zealanders at the moment, but I've got an idea.

Times are tough, there's no doubt...
- Construction costs have inflated massively.
- Land prices are really high.
- People's wages haven't caught up.
- General cost of living is still really expensive.
- And now even the global-power-plonkers are making things worse.

All that means one thing for architecture...

Dreams have been going on hold.

My job is to design homes for people with dreams, and it's been pretty rough seeing bright-eyed clients slowly turn away from their dream while they brace through economic uncertainty.

It's had me thinking about how I can still help people even when times are tight - and I reckon I have a decent idea.

High quality architecture, sold as plan sets.

People simply buy the plan sets, lodge their PIM, and can get straight onto building their dream home - saving a decent chunk of time and money that would otherwise go into design stages, cost estimates, and full consent processes.

The pic below is one of five designs that I've already finished - I'm just busy preparing the construction plans for them now, then I'll be making them available.

These homes are all:
- Designed to a high standard of living.
- Provide ample indoor-outdoor connection.
- Don't compromise on materials or performance.
- Are under 70m2 (saving on consenting time/costs thanks to the new rules).

If you're interested, feel free to reach out.

Otherwise, watch this space!

By far the most important thing about building on a piece of rural land is the location of the building site.There's a l...
10/03/2026

By far the most important thing about building on a piece of rural land is the location of the building site.

There's a lot to consider.

Most people immediately think of...
- views
- distance to services

But there's WAY more than that.

- Prevailing weather (can mean the difference between a comfortable home, and one that you live in like a bunker).
- Sun paths and seasonal shading (imagine sitting in your new home, in the shade, looking across at the "other spot" bathed in glorious sunshine for an extra 3 hours a day).
- Privacy (both current, and future - not much worse than having a home pop up in front of you, looking right at you).
- Ecological impact (earthworks/driveways/new buildings will change the existing waterflows/shading).
- Visual landscape impact (you don't want to be THAT guy who built the pimple on the landscape).
- Future expansion (for when the kids decide they want to move back to the farm so your grandkids can enjoy the same childhood).
- Microclimates (frost pockets/low spots/wind tunnels - obviously important).

I could go on and on, but you get the point!

Fortunately, of all the clients I've had, the ones who understand this stuff the best are the rural land owners, especially farmers. They live with this stuff day-to-day, they know how much of a difference it can make, and because of that, they give the sort of briefs that light me up the most.

Architecture's like nature in plenty of ways, but my favorite has got to be the untamed initial concept stages.Just like...
05/03/2025

Architecture's like nature in plenty of ways, but my favorite has got to be the untamed initial concept stages.

Just like a forest growing in response to sunlight, water, nutrients and topography - every good design starts as something wild and fluid.

In architecture the parameters are obviously different...
- Client brief
- Site opportunities & constraints
- Functionality
- Performance
- Sustainability
- Environmental impact
- Proportion & beauty
- Legislation & bureaucracy
- You get the idea...

Forests are pretty lucky, they don't have to worry about bureaucracy, but the process is really similar!

Each factor influences the outcome, and gradually through a bunch of testing, teasing out ideas, experience, and intuition, the design begins to form - the forest begins to grow.

Eventually you achieve a balance between all the factors, a sort of harmony is achieved, and it feels so good.

Or maybe I've just been sitting in the forest for too long... 😅

www.bharchitecture.co.nz

What's the future of architecture's relationship with nature?I see three options...1) We continue what we're doing and d...
05/03/2025

What's the future of architecture's relationship with nature?

I see three options...
1) We continue what we're doing and destroy ourselves and nature.
2) We densify and occupy small bubbles in isolation from nature.
3) We achieve a balance WITH nature.

It's true that at the moment, with conventional architecture/infrastructure, the least impactful way to live is to lean heavily into density and economies of scale. People living in central Tokyo in cubicle apartments will likely have some of the lowest per-capita impacts. Battery farming is actually extremely efficient per capita.

But this comes with a whole stack of problems.
1) People who aren't exposed to nature can't know its value, and so don't care to protect it.
2) It's too easy to ignore environmental degradation when you don't see it.
3) Exposure to nature is good for our mental & physical wellbeing.
4) Living in high density isn't healthy - battery farming problems.
5) Selfishly, I don't think I'd enjoy living in a battery farm. 😅

So long story short, I'm hopeful that we can learn to achieve a balance with nature, and it's that hope that motivates me to do the designs I do.

www.bharchitecture.co.nz

It's so awesome to see one of my designs used in an article in Sanctuary Magazine, and even better that it's an article ...
26/01/2025

It's so awesome to see one of my designs used in an article in Sanctuary Magazine, and even better that it's an article about something I love - using natural elements to enhance the design of spaces.

Also pretty amazed by how much Dr Fiona Gray's article resonates with some of the ways I like to approach the design of architecture.

Grab a copy of Sanctuary Magazine, or check out Fiona's article here...
www.biolivingbydesign.com.au/blog/living-with-nature

www.bharchitecture.co.nz

Too much wood?I took a few pics of our place the other day to list on AirBnB while we head off this summer, and it wasn'...
08/11/2024

Too much wood?

I took a few pics of our place the other day to list on AirBnB while we head off this summer, and it wasn't until I put the pics on the computer that I realised I might have an addiction to timber...

But it's just such great stuff though!

- It literally grows on trees.
- It's really versatile.
- It's flexible and strong.
- It's beautiful.
- It's pretty durable (especially compared to stuff like plasterboard).
- It sequesters carbon.
- It's affordable.
- We grow heaps of it locally (obviously not talking about the orangutan homes/virgin rainforests that people like to use for decking here in NZ).

Anyway, that's probably enough of me making excuses for my addiction... Oh, and you'll have to excuse the open shelves under the bench - building the drawers is one of those jobs that keeps getting pushed down the priority list.

www.bharchitecture.co.nz

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1294a Pataua North Road
Whangarei
0175

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