Passive House Whānau Spotlight – Arthur Lee from Respond Architects

Photo: Arthur Lee (right) with his colleagues Shana Payne and Joe Lyth in Respond Architects’
sustainability team.

This article first appeared in the December edition of the PHINZ member newsletter.

Arthur knew early on that he didn’t want the repeatable-task 9-5 job. Having studied a Bachelor of Architectural Technology and Construction Management in Denmark he returned home to New Zealand and started his career experience designing Passive Houses.

“My degree requires a mandatory internship that matches the quality of Danish building standard. I quickly realised working for a Passive House design firm was almost the only option in New Zealand. I cannot imagine a better start of an architectural career than being part of the Passive House community from the beginning and I still thrive in this environment.”

Arthur loves getting his hands into practical high-performance building design. As a team, Respond Architects currently have 6 houses and 1 multi-unit project targeting Passive House or the PHI Low Energy Building standard, along with many high-performance projects backed up with energy modelling. This reflects and aligns with their value of raising the building standard with creativity and technical expertise.

Arthur’s recent sustainability development agenda includes in-house practical PHPP 10 energy modelling training to upskill other sustainable-minded colleagues to roll out energy modelling on every project. It’s an exciting space to be in. He’s also adept at Life Cycle Assessments, creating templates and processes to make low-carbon building easier to achieve.

In his spare time, you’ll find him hiking or volunteering for reforestation programmes.

Keep up the great work Arthur!