“When we first met Graeme, we discovered mid-century Christchurch architecture is one of his loves. In fact, he’d written his thesis on Henning-Hansen’s work and understood how the building worked better than we did, so when we came to renovate, he was the obvious choice. It was nice to feel we had someone very invested in the build.”

“There’s a lot of joy in this house. It feels very personal. There are all these surprises as we walk around. And we haven’t got to the end of our surprises because we haven't had winter here yet. It will get even better.”

“If you work with an architect, make the most of them. There's no point engaging a professional unless you're going to listen. We could have hired a draughtsman to translate our ideas into drawings, but we wanted to be challenged. Working with Graeme has brought unexpected pleasures.”

“Graeme really listened to our vision for our home, took that onboard, and translated it into a design that appealed. We also liked him as a person. We felt we could relate to him. He was not only on our wavelength but also flexible when it came to accommodating our quirks.”

“With some architects, it’s their way or the highway. But Graeme describes himself as the builder's architect. He respects our skills, and says, if you've got a better way to do it, you tell me. That openness was at the forefront throughout our project. There was a lot of collaboration and give and take.”