Locally and abroad she experienced cities, buildings and houses that were designed and built in a multitude of ways.
Rolling out the futon each evening in her Dad’s 20sqm studio apartment in Tokyo, Noa looks back in retrospect on how her architectural approach was influenced by experiencing how places around the world have responded to their environmental, social & cultural context through design.
“As I studied, my reason for staying in architecture evolved based on the understanding that architecture is the backdrop to our lives,” Noa reflects. “It’s where we make our memories, share moments with the people we love, form new friendships, celebrate and cry. I fell in love with being able to play a part in that.”
Now an Architect at The Sociable Weaver, Noa’s focus is on the future residents, their lifestyles and how their homes can support happy lives. Creating sustainable, durable and beautiful designs for clients to live their lives and make memories in, and learning about new sustainable technologies and material innovations gets her up each morning.
Noa caught up with us to chat about her philosophy
Q. What are you passionate about in architecture?
A. Creating sustainable, durable and beautiful designs for clients to live their lives and make memories in. Learning about new sustainable technologies & material innovations. Seeing designs come to life on site — it’s always exciting and satisfying (and at times stressful) to see the projects go from paper/computer to a fully realised building.
Q. What inspires you?
A. Travel — seeing and experiencing how places around the world have responded to their environmental, social & cultural context.
Connection to nature and clients that are excited about design and reducing their impact on the planet.
Q. What’s your philosophy on design?
A. I think a design needs to be beautiful, functional and grounded in its context. It needs to make sense in its environment, both visually and functionally in order to be a comfortable and inspiring place to live. As much as a site allows, we should find a connection to nature to ground us in the world and make us feel connected to the environment. Life is busy and stressful and I think that connection to nature reminds us to slow down and that’s something that I think is incredibly important in the design of a home.
Q. What trends are you seeing in design?
A. I try to avoid trends. My goal is always to create beautiful designs that will be timeless and durable over their lifetime.
I think it will be interesting to see what industry changes like banning reconstituted stone will have on design and what product innovations will come out of it. My hope is that it will lead to more rigorous consideration of material impacts.
Q. Which are key things to consider in a new design?
A. The site — opportunities, constraints, northern aspect, prevailing winds, views, privacy, vegetation that can be retained, connection to nature, maximising private open space, drawing inspiration for elements on site, topography, etc.
The clients / brief— who they are, how they live now and how they plan to live in the future, whether it’s a growing family or empty nesters downsizing and thinking about retirement
The budget —critical, we want to create beautiful designs but they also need to make financial sense in terms of affordability and not overcapitalising on a property
Noa has been sharing her passion and art of architectural design at The Sociable Weaver since 2021.If you’d like to learn more or work with Noa, reach out for a chat.
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