Charissa Snijders, BARCH MDM(Hons) Regd Architect, FNZIA

Experience & Integrity

I am an award-winning, recently Living Building Challenge Petal certified, Registered Architect who has been working in the field since 1992.

I combine vision, artistry, experience, and my skills as an architect and empath to create places of beauty and resonance that restore harmony between people and place. As a writer, and advocate, I have contributed to the profession and community with service and published articles on working towards transformational change.

 

Living Building certified + award winning architect takes you on a journey

Every place holds a story. My role as architect, artist and empath is to help uncover the ‘story of place’ and act as a bridge for you to access deeper connection to yourself, life and all that surrounds you. The ‘immersion process’ I have developed over my career, helps bring this pioneering work into reality and starts before design begins.

The immersion process changes the way we see and feel architecture. The reconnection and reconciliation with nature it brings can be a profoundly life-changing experience. It allows people to sense and express their own full potential, and that of their project.

What differentiates my work beyond Sustainable architecture

The vital difference is my practical experience and expertise working with the holistic, whole systems, ‘immersion process’. It moves beyond Sustainable Architecture, to Regenerative Architecture to Reverence Architecture. Of course, it encompasses them all - including the inter-relationships so often overlooked. I also acknowledge and respect Te Ao Maori and how it influences my work. All this knowledge and expertise goes into your design and build - personalised to your needs, and in close collaboration.

 

Ko au te whenua, te whenua ko au
Ko wai ko au ko au ko wai

I am the land and the land is me
I am water, water is me

 
 

Qualifications

Bachelor of Architecture, University of Auckland, New Zealand

NZIA Registration and member of NZRAB

Masters in Design Management, Unitec, 1st Class Honours

Fellow of NZIA

Aotearoa Shamanism 3 year intensive

The Regenerative Practitioner Course

Diploma in Lasavia Healing, Shamanic Practitioner year 5

Regenerative Practitioner Co-Learning Network

Awards

2023  Living Building Challenge Vs 4.0 Petal Certification - Beauty, Energy + Equity

2022 Winner Low Carbon Future Award, New Zealand Energy Excellence Awards

2017 Winner Best of Houzz Design Award

2016 Winner Best of Houzz Design Award

2014 NZ Wood Resene Timber Design Awards
Highly commended, The Gatekeeper, Category 1
Finalist, The Gatekeeper, Category 5
Finalist, The Treehouse, Category 1

2011 AAA Cavilier Bremworth Unbuilt Architecture Awards
Otuataua Stonefields Heritage Centre. Finalist

2004 NZIA Local Awards Hospitality and Tourism, Te Kowhai Landing

Community Engagement

2022 - present: NZIA Te Kāhui Whaihanga Auckland Branch committee - Regenerative advocate

2022 - present: NZIA Te Kāhui Whaihanga Auckland Branch representative on the Auckland Council Governance Board of the Auckland Urban Design Panel

2017 - present: Member of Upper Waitemata Ecology Network, spokesperson for the local waterways and advocate around regeneration and intensification in the Upper Harbour area

Full background: Promoting architecture and community