Welcome home

Jacqui Topless is the most recent addition to our team. Her freshly completed Masters of Architecture degree endeavours to answer the question ‘How can an architectural intervention facilitate the return of taonga to iwi in Aotearoa/New Zealand’, with her thesis titled, ‘Welcome Home: Return, Rehabilitation and Reconnection; Architecture as a Kaitiaki for Taonga Māori’.

During her time at university Jacqui travelled internationally for her studies – including attendance at an Australasian Student Architecture Congress in Melbourne. A university elective at Tongji University in Shanghai, China, was a second international learning experience. The elective Shanghai Studio, aka Street Academy, involved lectures at Tongji University and on-site study of how different street types work.

Jacqui returns from her studies in Auckland to her hometown of Rotorua and is initially working as a Junior Architectural Graduate.

She values a design approach focusing on transforming and enriching not only the client’s lives but that of the wider community. DCA’s wide range of projects will offer ample scope to implement that vision.

Welcome to the team Jacqui, we look forward to your contribution to DCA’s client projects.