Sayes Studio

Henri Sayes is an architect based in Auckland, New Zealand. Designing a home is about deciding how to live: how best to live. Good architecture needn’t – shouldn’t – be heavy-going or high-brow. It shouldn’t be about lavish details or grand statements. Great spaces feel right. It as simple as that. Of course making something right is hardly simple. In fact, it’s rather complex. Henri is driven by an aspiration to create houses that are lovely to be in. Rooms where you want to curl up all day and never leave because the window seat, flooded with sunlight, is too perfect. Spaces that are a retreat from the world and spaces that tempt you to push open the doors and spill out into the garden. Kitchens that you want to cook in and dining rooms where parties trail off into the evening. Houses that surprise and delight, that comfort and challenge. Houses for living in. Henri works at Malcolm Walker Architects and holds a degree in architecture from the University of Auckland. His work has been published in Dwell (USA), Habitus Living (AUS), Home (NZ), Urbis (NZ), Architecture New Zealand, and has been awarded by the New Zealand Institute of Architects.