Simone Bub

"I am passionate about buildings where people and the planet can thrive."

 A woman, born and raised in Germany in a suburban apartment with underfloor heating in an air tight building, excited about architecture and the people who live and work in it. 

The work experience I gained during and after my architectural education largely influenced the type of architect I am today. 

While studying I got the chance to work part time with an architect and instantly apply all the things I got taught the day before at university. I measured up plenty of 1900 European city buildings, learning about that typology and gaining insights into a lot of private apartments. I must say sometimes I could not believe how people could live like that. The main focus was residential work, we did small scale new builds and alterations in urban and suburban environments.

In 2011 I paused university for one semester. I worked full time for 3 months to afford an unpaid internship in New York City.

We worked mainly on residential projects in Soho NYC an area with 6+ floors and extremely deep floor plans. In this typology, natural light is the biggest asset. 

Even years later when I had to choose the topic for my master thesis, this experience was still quite present and inspired me to write about "Light, Air and Sun" and how to redevelop a typical German apartment block built in the 50s and 60s and implement a better indoor-outdoor connection. The scale was different to what I experienced in NYC but the need for a relationship between inside and outside is the same.

In my first full time job I got very quickly thrown into leading projects and teams. We did a lot of high-end interior fit outs for mainly commercial clients but also large scale residential projects.

Coming to New Zealand I was fortunate enough to find work in Gisborne and started working for Architects 44. This let me gain a lot of knowledge about NZ standards and light timber framed buildings. I also got exposed to a vast variety of typologies and clients from school maintenance work to big scale hotel feasibilities.

Light, air and sun are no issues in most parts of New Zealand and still we are struggling to have healthy homes for most New Zealanders and I kept wondering if the German approach with passive house could be the key to our problem with unhealthy living environments?

After completing the passive house training in 2022 I'm not wondering any more, I am convinced it is the only way we can achieve healthy homes, prevent fuel poverty and relief pressure of the health system.

I am on a mission now, I want to challenge the status quo and create healthier spaces for the environment and the people that live in it.