SOPHIE HAMER

FOUNDER, editor, architect

Hi, I'm Sophie, and I am a registered Architect and founder of Portico.

I made the last-minute call to study a Bachelor of Architectural Studies (BAS) at Victoria University of Wellington , New Zealand, 3 weeks before the first semester started in January 2007. I had been switching between study options - from science, to law and political science - but my creative aspirations won out in the end. I'm glad they did!

Although I had been lucky enough to spend a day with an architecture University group while I was at high school, and had a lot of exposure to architectural drawings and residential renovation projects growing up, I wasn't really sure what I was getting in to. 

I found the first year hard work. I had to open up my thinking, find new ways of moving forward, and learn to look at things differently. But by the end of first year, I found my stride and began to figure out my own design skills, style, and values.

I also realised the value that my other personal interests could bring to the how and why of design. While I was at university, I took some courses outside the traditional architecture field, including French Language, which enabled me to spend time studying in Paris, and a limited-entry poetry course at the International Institute of Modern Letters.

Through the five years of study, I became completely enamoured with architecture - from the technical, to the highly conceptual and theoretical work, right down to the detail. I graduated with my Master of Architecture (Professional) awarded with Distinction in 2012.

Since graduation, I've worked in three architectural practices in New Zealand, and taught a range of courses from design to sustainability and research methodologies, at Victoria University of Wellington and the University of Auckland. 

I have also been involved with the New Zealand Institute of Architects, being part of the Auckland Branch in the role of Graduate Advocate, and was a founding member of the Emerge group and events series. I completed my professional registration with the NZRAB in 2017.

In 2019, I moved to Europe to expand my learning in new ways - and to experience difference methods and languages of architecture.

My personal research is focused on the relationships between age, self, language and design processes in the production and performances of architectural ecologies and practices. 

I'd love to hear from you!

Anytime, any questions or queries about architecture or anything you have seen on Portico. Send me an email at: sophie@portico.space or use the contact form below.