Graeme North

Graeme North MNZM, FNZIA, BArch, Dip Perm, has over 45 years experience with hundreds of projects to his credit. A dedicated eco-designer, his work can be found from Otago to Northland, garnering him both a national and international reputation for his design of natural buildings.

He has specialised in designs that use a wide range of natural materials and appropriate building technology as well as offering specialist assistance or peer review in these specialties for other owners, designers and/or Building Consent authorities.

Graeme also mentors guided owner-building at all stages. He occasionally runs workshops, on the practicalities of using earthen and straw-based materials. See here for more information on his upcoming workshops.

Graeme is particularly interested in the integrated relationship between plants and buildings, a concept that incorporates permaculture principles, a concept he calls “livingscapes”.

Graeme was Inaugural Chair of the Earth Building Association of New Zealand, and Chaired the Standards New Zealand Technical Committee responsible for the suite of NZ Earth Building Standards that were published in 1998, and their recent revision published in 2020.

He has received various awards and commendations during his career including the 1990 NZ Commemoration Medal for Services to NZ, the NZIA Research Award for the NZ Earth Building Standards.
In 2007 he was made a Fellow of the New Zealand Institute of Architecture, and in 2010 he received a Winston Churchill Fellowship to investigate setting up an appropriate building technology centre to be the hub of a national organization to research and educate about the use of natural materials and appropriate technology.
A NZIA Enduring Architecture Award was given in 2017 for a house he designed in 1974.
In 2020 he was made a Member of the NZ Order of Merit (MNZM) for services to architecture and natural building standards.

To see some of his papers and articles please see writings