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Meet

John Durkin


Director, Principal Registered Architect

John has always loved ‘making’ and improving people’s experience. To see and experience the product of his work has always appealed. John loves to question, see things differently, explore ideas and reveal hidden opportunity.

He says the design and creative process is intuitive and the feelings and emotions it triggers are universally felt. His work has introduced him to some great people and wonderful places. He loves that Architects can make a living by how they think about things, and how this leads to solid, long lasting work.

Outside of Architecture, John is passionate about family, health, travel, and golf. His love for Liverpool Football  Club is a genetic malaise.

Sheldon Carr

Senior Architectural Graduate

Sheldon got his first job drafting at the age of 16. He’s always had an interest in supporting people and helping others achieve their goals. He says he’s been fortunate to always have the best support and influence when it comes to the profession. In a way, it’s about making them proud.

Allowing others to construct memories in the spaces that he helps them create. That, paired with a love for art and design, has led him here.  

Sheldon specialises in creating a relationship between context and person through a collaborative design-led approach. He employs allegory, which is a story that has an underlying meaning meant to teach us something.

He holds a huge amount of pride in the things he does. At Abri, he has found a supportive environment with people that share a common goal. The best thing about this for him is the opportunity and responsibility to grow.

Harry J Rainger

Architectural Graduate

From an early age, Harry found joy in the creative disciplines. He soon came to understand that creativity can serve much more than art alone. He became driven to develop his creative skills in a way that could serve greater purposes and actively improve people’s lives. Ultimately, this led him to Architecture.

He enjoys being a part of the process that nurture’s the aspirations of the client toward the best possible solutions – one that caters to their needs. While also providing a healthy and heartening built environment for the users to thrive in.

At Abri, the has found an enthusiastic team of forward-thinking designers and a supportive and open-minded working environment. He considers it a privilege to be working alongside workmates who share constructive values and goals, both in professional and personal life.

Harry is passionate about improving New Zealand’s built environment and aspires to contribute to the critical movement toward sustainable and high-performing architecture.

He enjoys exploring the integration of building systems and structure, while engaging strategies specific to enhancing the lived experience of the space and place. Outside of architecture, his passions lie in various fields of art and in the raw wilderness of nature.

Emily Lawrie

Architectural Graduate

Emily finished her Bachelors of Architecture in 2020 at the University of Auckland, and is now halfway through her  Masters of Architecure (Professional) at the University of Auckland. She has been with Abri Architects since the beginning of 2020.

She says she has always had a passion for architecture, and believes it stems from growing up around her father, who is a Town Planner, and his work.

Being multidisciplined is important to Emily, to become confident in all parts of the job. She enjoys the detail and care that everyone puts into the work at Abri, and the variety of clients that the team gets to engage with. She says the best thing about working for Abri is the closeness between people in the office.

In her work life, she is most passionate about bettering herself at every stage of the Architectural process, I she says she is lucky to have colleagues from all sorts of backgrounds to guide her. Outside of work, she’s serious about her fitness.

Naomi Tate

Architectural Technician

Naomi finds the context behind the site and building fascinating, and she enjoys the problem solving that comes with analysing each site.

Coming up with a unique solution that will improve the environment in that location is what it’s all about for Naomi.

She can also get excited about gardening and great cups of English Breakfast tea!!