Critics

Mark Mismash

Mark Mismash is a registered architect with a background in construction, engineering, teaching, business, and management.  His diverse skill set adds value to design, budgets, schedules, and fostering relationships within my office, with consultants, clients, and communities.   

He excels as a team builder and leader. He empathizes with each stakeholder in large, complex projects, and understand their priorities.  He translates these interests between disciplines to form a cohesive, effective stakeholder team. 

He embraces innovation, recently leading a design team to a New Zealand first using C4R (now BIM360), and engaging consultants and other key stakeholders. 

John Bentley Chapman

Consulting Engineer & Timber Building Researcher

Most of my research has been in the field of timber structures and their environmental benefits.

A big challenge for NZ is to find new ways to add value to pinus radiata timber before it is exported. To this end I have joined with Industry and investigating possible new areas of use for pinus radiata.  Recently, my work has been looking into various new ways that radiata timber can be considered as the main structural elements in commercial and industrial building.  Even though this is a new field of research in New Zealand, it is well under way in Europe. The challenge to researchers is to develop sufficiently strong and reliable joints using the timber and technologies available in New Zealand. 

STUART HOUGHTON 

ASSOCIATE PARTNER     URBAN DESIGNER | LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT

Stuart is a qualified urban designer and registered NZILA landscape architect with more than fifteen years’ experience in New Zealand and the United Kingdom. He has a breadth of experience in urban design and landscape architecture, for sites at a range of scales and for clients in both the public and private sector. His design work includes preparing urban design frameworks, structure plans, and site master plans as well as strategic and conceptual design proposals for streets and public spaces 

As an urban designer Stuart has proven experience of working collaboratively as part of multi-disciplinary teams on complex urban development, infrastructure and public realm projects. He brings to each commission an open and inquiring mind, clear strategic design thinking and robust and considered analysis of issues and opportunities. He regularly undertakes design review and assessment roles in relation to complex mixed use and development projects, infrastructure and streetscape / public realm proposals. 

In addition to his design expertise Stuart has strong written communication and presentation skills that have enabled him to gain considerable experience in the areas of urban and landscape planning, including strategy and policy, design guidance, urban design and landscape assessment, and presentation of expert evidence at council hearings for plan changes and resource consents. Recently this experience has included being the urban designer for the Smales Farm private plan change to enable transit-oriented development and tall buildings on that site, a review of the urban development options for Maungawhau and Karangahape CRL Stations for City Rail Link Limited, and urban design assessments for the 277 Broadway redevelopment by Scentre Group, Auckland City Mission Homeground development and Auckland Waterfront Apartments at Wynyard Quarter.  Since 2014 Stuart has served as a panellist and chair of the Auckland Urban Design Panel that provides design review to large scale, complex and high-profile development projects across Auckland. 

Stuart naturally bridges professional and disciplinary divides between planning and design, strategy and implementation, and public and private interests, to deliver higher quality, more liveable cities and urban places. His work has received a number of awards including most recently the NZILA Charlie Challenger Supreme Award for the Auckland Transport City East West Transport Study, the 2018 Living Streets Aotearoa award for The Business Case for Walking: Investigating the Economic Value of Walking in the Auckland City Centre.as well as a visionary urban design award from the NZILA for his master’s thesis.  

Benoit Coppens 

Landscape Architect and Urban Design Consultant 

With a Master’s Degree in Landscape Architecture from the University of Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech in Belgium & the University of Montreal in Canada. Benoit currently works alongside the Landscape and Urban Design team where his knowledge and industry experience, including previous work with a number of prestigious landscape & architecture firms in Europe, have made him an invaluable member of the team. 

His diverse range of field experience includes managing work sites, overseeing territorial strategy, supervising large-scale landscaping, garden and urbanism projects through to assisting with local neighbourhood and community projects. 

Hugely aware of improving the relationship between culture & nature, Benoit intends to utilise a holistic approach when it comes to considering, designing and implementing both living and non-living landscapes. 

Benoit is member of the New Zealand Institute of Landscape Architects.