OTO Group Architecture

OTO Group Architecture OTO Group is a holistic architecture practice focused on relationships and crafting balanced spaces.

13/10/2026

Amy and I have spent the last 3 years renovating and restoring our house and we’ve come to a point where we feel like we are finished. The problem with that is we love a project and making spaces our own that we want to do it all again which means our house is up for sale.

It’s a bittersweet moment. We are going to miss the abundant fruit trees and the garden we have put so much time into and the house we have lovingly crafted. But we know we can do it all again.

We have tossed and turned about selling, we don’t need to leave, but an opportunity has come up that would allow our friends and families to come stay for long periods. It’s also closer to a surf break.

So if you’re in the market and looking for an essentially brand new home with the soul of mid century modern and the craft of hand made objects, have a look out for our listing.

Tremains is selling it and the address is 806A Gordon Road.

The birdsong isn’t listed on the chattels but I’m pretty confident it comes with the house

03/09/2026

It’s funny how life works sometimes. 4 years ago I came across an architect who was based in California called Leon Meyer. He designed a handful of interesting houses that were round, full circles. They were really striking and I spent a lot of time researching them, how they were built and what they were like to live in. I was captivated by them but they were just a curiosity.

A year later I ended up not far from them, found out who owned one of them, reached out and got to visit two of these Meyer round houses. It was a treat and really special being inside them. They are fantastic spaces, quite small and a little quirky with the curved wall but fantastic nonetheless. I left wanting to explore them more and maybe catalogue them for the Eichler Network and make models. Still just a curiosity.

And then at the start of this year I got a new client with a wonderful property that has 270 degrees of ocean and estuary views. And at the end of the first meeting they said “wouldn’t it be great to build a round house.”

So now I get to design a round house. Although I don’t think the round circle is a very efficient floor plan and the Meyer ones were designed to be built on one central foundation on a steep site so that’s partly where the circle comes from, I think a sweeping arc makes much more sense but keeps all the magic of the round. All the curved faces are mostly glass, they will be faceted on a 1200 grid so we don’t actually have any true curves. The curves are going to be built out of brick and the glass in sections. The view is all to one side which is mostly south and the centre of the circle forms a sheltered and private courtyard.

It’s quite beautiful and functional, I’m quite chuffed with myself.

10/08/2026

I designed the house in the distance in 2018 and I’ve been asked back to build an art studio/sleepout on the same property. Stunning views down to the bay below and a lovely sheltered part of the property.

There will be a workshop on the gravel for welding and glass casting. The studio will be for painting and plaster casting so we need good natural light, dialled in so its indirect and the correct colour temperature. There will be a gallery space and I’m designing the building so it turns its back to the entrance and creates a reveal as you step inside to the gallery space.

05/08/2026

I needed more business cards and for the past few years I’ve had the same design but different colours, usually the Pantone of the year colour. That colour this year isn’t so interesting and I noticed on the website that I could order up to 50 variations for no extra cost. So of course I wanted to draw 50 custom designs.

Some of them are design concepts from projects, some are diagrams I’ve used to explain process or form and some of them are just fun like Batman or the people worshipping the sun.

I’ve been giving them out for a few months now and it’s been fun! I like the surprise people get when they see every card is different and they get to choose whatever they are drawn to. I like the colours and it’s interesting to see how people are more drawn to the bold colours than I’d expected.

22/07/2026

I’ve been fortunate to be a finalist in the emerging design award for NZ Design Week and as part of this process I had the privilege to think about my practice and my philosophy and to share that with a skilled audience.

I’ve had the honour to work with trusting and incredible clients and contractors. Each project builds on my knowledge and this accumulation of experience makes me a better designer.

All my work begins with listening, to site and client and material. I try not impose my will and I take pride in crafting spaces that are as just as much my clients as designed by me.

It’s the little things, the finishing touches that give a space that sense of care that is so important. That’s why I’ve...
28/06/2026

It’s the little things, the finishing touches that give a space that sense of care that is so important. That’s why I’ve made all the handles in our house and each one is unique. Most of them are made from a piece of Matai I found behind our shed, the handles to the bathroom are from a piece of Apple wood off a tree that Governor Grey planted in the 1850s.
I had a fun morning making handles with Oshi for his playroom. We found a piece of wood he liked and he helped me shape it on the lathe. I knew I wanted them to be his handles for his room so we sized them for his ergonomics and attached them at a height that works for his body.

20/06/2026

The greatest barrier to learning new skills is wanting to be good at them.

04/05/2026

They kind of look like cowls or capes. I’m enjoying playing with different shapes and base forms to see what changes with height and mass. I’m enjoying experimenting with the reflected light off the metal and onto other surfaces. They also become a source of lamp black, I could make my own ink…

21/04/2026

A well-planned build is built twice: once on paper, once on site. The first build is where the costly mistakes get solved for free.
It sounds counterintuitive. The building sector has softened, the economic headlines are cautious, and confidence is down. So why would we say now is a great time to build?
​
Because it is if you’re strategic about it. For anyone seriously considering a custom home, the next six to nine months represent one of the best windows we’ve seen in years.

For a well-resolved, considered house, the kind we design at OTO Group, the journey from first conversation to breaking ground is roughly six to nine months depending on the complexity of the brief and the site. Design, engineering, consenting, and planning all happen before a single trade sets foot on site.

Start that process now and you break ground in summer. Foundations, framing, and getting the house weathertight all happen in the best weather window of the year. Interior fit-out runs through winter once the house is dry.

When the building sector is busy, subcontractors don’t return calls and pricing comes back late and padded. Designers end up working with guesses and these lead to more expensive building sites. It is always preffered to have plenty of time to make decisions without pressure or hurry.

In a quiet market, this inverts. Builders, electricians, plumbers, they actually engage with the design process. They return accurate pricing based on current rates, because they genuinely want the work. That means by the time you go to build, you know what the house will cost, not an estimate that blows out on the way. That’s a very different experience from building in a boom, and it’s one that only exists in a market like this one.

We also want engaged trades, we want the people who are going to be building your dream home to understand the design, the thinking behind it and what is going into it.

So if you’ve been thinking of building a house, reach out and let’s have a chat about what to do next and why now is a great time to be talking about your dream home.

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Level 1, 27 Chancery Street
Auckland

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