Catalysts of Place: Why Visionary Clients Make All the Difference
Visionary clients can spark neighbourhood transformation. Discover why placemaking starts with long-term thinking, buzz, and soulful architecture.
Placemaking: What it is, and what it isn’t
What makes a place feel alive? True placemaking is about more than luxury apartments or retail turnover. It is about community, connection, and soulful design. Exploring Ponsonby’s decline and how thoughtful transport, materials, and street design could bring back its buzz and vibrancy. Michael Davies Architect NZ.
Sensory Architecture Series: Designing for the Whole Human
The final blog in the Sensory Architecture series explores how multi-sensory design creates spaces that resonate on a deeper, more human level.
Sensory Architecture Series: Taste
Discover how taste influences architecture and placemaking. From multisensory design to the flavour of materials, Daedal explores how taste completes the sensory experience of soulful architecture.
Sensory Architecture Series: Sight
Explore the role of sight in sensory architecture with Daedal. Discover how natural light, visual hierarchy, and material contrast enhance wellbeing and deepen our connection to space. Michael Davies Architect NZ.
Sensory Architecture Series: Smell
Discover how smell shapes our emotional connection to space in part 3 of Daedal’s Sensory Architecture series. Explore the power of scent, natural materials, and biophilic design with Michael Davies Architect NZ.
Sensory Architecture Series: Sound
Sound shapes how we experience space, yet it is often overlooked in architecture. Discover how acoustic design enhances wellbeing, connection, and emotion in this sensory exploration from Daedal.
Sensory Architecture Series: Touch
Explore how touch shapes emotional connection in architecture. From natural materials to thermal comfort, this post reveals why designing for the sense of touch creates spaces that feel alive. By Michael Davies Architect NZ.
Sensory Architecture Series: Introduction
Discover the power of sensory architecture with Daedal. This introduction previews a six-part series exploring how design can shape emotion, connection, and wellbeing through all five senses.
Sustainable Plastics? Why That Phrase Might Be Misleading
Plastics labelled as ‘eco’, ‘green’, or ‘carbon-negative’ still contribute to microplastic pollution and disconnection from nature. Daedal explores why true sustainability means going beyond surface-level solutions.
Is This Material Good for Me? A Guide to Choosing Healthier, Soulful Materials in Your Next Build
Want a healthier building? Learn what questions to ask your architect, builder, or supplier to ensure your materials are non-toxic, sustainable, and good for both people and planet. Michael Davies of Daedal guides you with some options.
Nature Already Got It Right: Why the Best Materials Aren’t Man-Made
Natural materials like wool, timber, and stone outperform many man-made alternatives. At Daedal, Michael Davies Architect NZ explores why soulful, sustainable architecture starts with what nature already perfected.
What if sustainability isn’t the goal?
Sustainable buildings can still cause harm. At Daedal, Michael Davies Architect NZ explores why regenerative and biophilic architecture must go further — restoring ecosystems, enriching lives, and creating soulful, living environments.
Too Many Signs, Not Enough Sense: The Visual Noise of Modern Cities
Auckland-based architect Michael Davies of Daedal explores the rising epidemic of visual noise in our cities. Is it time to rethink signage and trust human intuition again?
Start with the Soil: Why Architecture Should Be Landscape-Led
Great architecture begins with the land. Discover why landscape-led design leads to more resilient, soulful, and sustainable buildings – from city blocks to tiny homes. A Daedal perspective by Michael Davies Architect NZ.
The Sound of the City: Designing with Noise in Mind
Discover how thoughtful acoustic design can transform noisy cities into soulful, human-centred environments. Michael Davies of Daedal Architecture explores how biophilic design and emotional architecture can restore calm, connection, and care to the soundscape of our urban spaces.
Designing for Cities That Feel Alive
Discover why cities like Auckland need more than efficiency — they need soul. Michael Davies of Daedal Architecture explores how curiosity, vibrancy, and sensory richness create urban spaces that feel truly alive.
“architecture” vs. “Architecture”: Why the Lowercase Matters
Discover the quiet power of lowercase architecture—human, soulful, and built for real life. Michael Davies Architect NZ explores the difference between buildings that perform and buildings that feel.
The Material Soul: Timber, Texture, and the Language of Care
Explore how timber’s texture and warmth create soulful spaces in architecture. Discover why thoughtful material choices like timber express care, longevity, and emotional connection. Michael Davies Architect NZ | Daedal.
Beyond Green: Designing for a Living Future
Daedal explores how soulful, regenerative architecture goes deeper than sustainability—creating spaces that give back to nature, support wellbeing, and reconnect people to place.