Meet our People — Jeremy Bull

INTERVIEWER: CLAIRE DELMAR

In this edition of "Meet Our People," Claire catches up with Jeremy Bull, Principal architect at Alexander and Co. With a background spanning retail, institutional, and residential sectors, Jeremy now focuses on crafting single houses and intricate F&B precincts. Guided by a philosophy of creating enduring, community-enriching designs, Jeremy shares insights into his approach, recent projects, and advice for aspiring professionals.

Tell me briefly about your background and experience in the design/related field.

I am an Architect by education and registration, but have worked across, and continue to work within a broader range of technical work. My experience has included retail, F&B, institutional, residential, multi and single. It’s a very wide experience base, but now I spent most of my time working on single houses and complex F&B, ie multiple venues within a precinct strategy. I am a graduate from 2001, and first started practice as an undergrad in 1998, after a year off after school backpacking!

What inspired you to pursue your career path?

I think various influential people more than anything else. People who cared about me enough to point out that I had some sort of capacity within design and then both showed me what could be possible and held me accountable! I think I have some inherent creative capacity too which helps, my earliest memories include a lot more drawing than anything else, but I also am quite wired toward the strategic and rational, perhaps the combination is well suited to architecture and design.

What's your design philosophy and approach?

I really love the idea that work can be valuable for many reasons and that our vocation can give value to our communities and world in a greater sense. I think this anchors my work in having as little impact as it can, which inherently needs it to be time enduring, timeless, and valuable. I like the idea that our work can recruit the energy of people who care about it too. So you could say my philosophy is to bring passionate people around creating valuable and time enduring work.

What's your process for creating a design concept?

It is very multifaceted. I have a long obsession with modernity and neo-modernity within architecture. I also love art, pop culture and story. I think is a concept can thread together the practical utility of a brief with the various stories of people, history and the inherent artfulness of a site, it makes for as great concept process.

What's your stance on sustainable or eco-friendly design practices?

As a B Corp we are very committed to the goal of circularity. My stance is to emphatically do our best with the tools we have. And then find the tools we dont.

What are some recent projects you've been working on?

We have some complex master planning and architectural projects in NZ, including Wynyard Quarter in Auckland and a farm cum F&B precinct in Queenstown. We also designed a new hotel on the water in Phillip Island. I have spend much of this year refining some houses which should go into construction too.

How do you handle project budgets and cost estimates?

From the beginning and regularly throughout! Cost management is one of the three pillars of a project, so this is a big conversation.

How do you handle unexpected design challenges during a project?

With patience and grace…if possible. And with administrative rigour always.

What software or tools do you use for design and visualisation?

Archicad, Twin Motion, Sketch up, Rhino, I feel like a new tool is mentioned weekly and cant really keep up.

What advice would you give to someone just starting their career?

Be patient but tenacious, it’s long game and needs to be sustainable, but if it doesn’t feel like ‘work’ somedays you may not be doing it right.

Are there any specific projects you are most proud of and why?

Being in my 12th year of practice and parenting four sons with tess is about as big a project as my nervous system can endure!

You tend to find your love of work within your expertise. Hence, sometimes your career can be quite confusing, but may reveal itself as your expertise build. Love demands patience, gentleness, the will to fight, the will to forgive. This is no different to finding love in your work.

Thank you,Jeremy, for sharing your insights with us.