Phillip Matz joined DKO earlier this year, heading up the New Zealand branch of the Asia-Pacific practice that spans Australia, Indonesia and Vietnam. The new partnership came about from a chance meeting two years ago in Queenstown, where Matz, who still heads up his eponymous practice Matz Architects, could see the obvious synchronicity between his values as an architect and those of DKO. They share the same design language, says Matz, yet the New Zealand studio brings its own unique approach.
“We’re able to bring to the table a country and a culture that is very different to Australia,” he shares. “I think we're tonally a lot softer here because our environment’s softer, yet it is also dynamic in its own way.”
In Aotearoa, the practice focuses on single residential, townhouse developments and large retail, whereas Australia takes on projects at a much larger scale, including everything from single high-end residential to 50-storey high-rise towers.
Despite New Zealand projects being on a smaller scale, Matz says the markets feed each other, giving each other new perspectives and a shared resource of experience. The collaboration between studios is particularly exciting to Matz. With over 350 staff across seven studios, New Zealand now has access to a huge pool of talent, particularly in the niche of delivering large-scale hotel projects, which the firm is known for.
“DKO's experience in Australia in the hotel sector and in wellness design is very, very strong – they’re very good at it and they have a lot of connections,” says Matz. “For me coming in and learning from them is something I'm really enjoying being exposed to.”
With such a large team, there was the potential for a New Zealand arm to feel isolated, but Matz says this isn’t the case at all.
“The collaboration between all the studios is fantastic. Every week we catch up in-house and then once a month we have a design exchange where all the studios present the projects they're working on,” he says. “You get to see projects in Sydney and Perth and Ho Chi Minh City and as a practice that just really helps us thrive.”
Regardless of location, DKO branches all share a holistic and client-centred approach to delivering projects. This means putting the client at the centre of the building journey, and supporting the professionals to execute their design.
“Those values have been my baseline for my practice my whole life, and becoming part of this practice with people who share the same values really resonated with me,” Matz says.
There are currently nine staff in the New Zealand branch, with seven operating from Auckland offices and two more working remotely from New Plymouth. The practice has already delivered a suite of projects across commercial and residential, including the Pullman Hotel in Hamilton, which is nearing completion.
“It's a full refurbishment of an existing 20-storey building that was previously used as office space, so that's a significant project in New Zealand; it's very challenging moving a high-end hotel brand into an existing building, but it's also really exciting!”
Townhouses by DKO.
Marina Tower by DKO.
Aside from the Pullman Hotel project, there are many other projects currently in the works, including a luxury lodge in Queenstown with 25 high-end villas, a restaurant, guest lounge and owner’s residence, nestling in a bush setting that faces the lake.
The New Zealand team is collaborating with the Melbourne office on this project, and Matz says once it's completed it will be a flagship development for accommodation in New Zealand. He believes large-scale hotel and hospitality work like this is likely to grow, as Aotearoa’s hotel stock is becoming increasingly tired.
With so much in the pipeline to look forward to, Matz is delighted to be part of the DKO team.
“Joining as the New Zealand director has been really exciting for me – to be part of such a big practice,” he shares. “I believe the key to our success as part of a big practice is our collaborative approach, because even though we're big, we feel small and connected and I think that’s pretty unique.”
It is these strong connections that will no doubt define the new arm of DKO as it grows. For Matz, being part of a larger international practice brings the best of both worlds: the resources and expertise of a global network, combined with the close-knit culture and collaborative spirit of a New Zealand studio. As the team grows and takes on more ambitious projects, that sense of connection looks set to remain at the heart of its approach.
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