Growing up in rural New Zealand, Architect (USA) and founder Charlotte Muschamp has a deep tactile appreciation for the environment, its materials, and its ecological systems. A sheep farm in Southland was the perfect canvas for a seven-year-old aspiring Architect. Rolling together bits of bark, mud, and long grasses to build shelters to protect from the southwesterlies bringing with it artic fronts.

On the sunny days, instead of stacking the old bricks like instructed, it seem much more intuitive to build the ‘flavor of the month’ floor plan on the daisy ridden southern lawn. Snuggling up to the thermal mass of the bricks as they warmed in the sun and nailing hundreds of rusty nails into ‘poo crusted’ 2x4’s before learning how NOT to split the dry old timber to act as the ‘post and beam’ structure for hanging daisy chain curtains.

10 years on and it was time to pursue architecture more formally – at Victoria University of Wellington. Only a quick layover in the capital city before an unsuspecting phone call offering a Scholarship to WashingtonState University. It was the year of ‘YOLO’ (You-Only-Live-Once) and so the plane tickets were booked to Seattle and the battle with immigration began.An artist at heart, the legislation, engineering and building science of theUnited States of America was a soul-searching pilgrimage for Charlotte. Finding creativity in the mundane, and beauty in science and arithmetic.

The ‘Emerald City’ became home. A vibrant city and hub of innovation, a community perfect to fuel passion for design and up skill as a registered Architect. The onset of COVID-19 prompted a shift back to New Zealand. Armed with new found expertise and determined to leverage North American standards of the construction industry to drive positive change in the Architecture of New Zealand. And there it was—Alki was born.

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