The Compact City: Planning for Closeness, Community, and a Car-Free Future
Discover how compact cities can revitalise urban life through better planning, walkability, and community connection. Michael Davies, Architect NZ, explores bold moves for a soulful urban future.
Biophilic Cities: Why Nature in Urban Density Is Our Real Design Challenge
Architect Michael Davies (Daedal Architecture NZ) explores how biophilic design can transform dense cities, making urban life more human, sustainable, and connected to nature. Forget retreats; this is about building better cities for all.
Building with Climate in Mind: Lessons from the Local Landscape
New Zealand’s varied climates demand local design responses, not borrowed templates. Discover how passive solar principles, materiality, and landscape-led thinking lead to more resilient, soulful buildings. Michael Davies Architect NZ – Daedal Architecture
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: 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.
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.
The Soulful Architecture Manifesto
Discover The Soulful Architecture Manifesto by Daedal—led by Michael Davies Architect NZ. A human-centered, biophilic, and emotionally resonant approach to contemporary architecture and sustainable design.
Why Every Building Should Have a Green Roof: Towards a More Resilient Architecture
Discover why green roofs should be the standard for sustainable architecture. Michael Davies, NZ architect at Daedal, explores how biophilic design and soulful architecture can transform rooftops into thriving ecosystems. Learn the benefits, challenges, and real-world examples from Europe and beyond.