Multi-Unit & Medium-Density Housing
Townhouse and multi-unit developments that people genuinely want to live in - designed for yield, buildability and performance from the first feasibility sketch.
Ngārara Lots 11-14
Kāpiti Coast, New Zealand
Our Whare Our Fale | CPC
Eastern Porirua, New Zealand
Density done properly is just good housing, multiplied. Homes designed around the people who live in them - even twenty at a time.
First Light Studio is a Wellington architecture practice designing multi-unit and medium-density housing throughout New Zealand, and has won NZIA Architecture Awards every year since 2017 - including consecutive multi-unit wins with Fair Acres in Palmerston North (2025) and Our Whare Our Fale in Wellington (2026). Our multi-unit work spans townhouse developments, papakāinga and community housing, from the Kāpiti Coast to Cardrona.
Timber framed
Off-site
CLT
Feasibility & yield first.
Every multi-unit project starts with the same question: what can this site actually deliver? Our feasibility and yield studies test unit count, typology mix, planning constraints and indicative costs before serious money is committed - so the scheme you consent is the scheme that stacks up.
Designing within the planning rules.
Medium-density rules differ by council and keep evolving - height limits, density provisions and design guides all shape what a site can carry. We track the district plan settings that matter for intensification in Wellington and beyond, and design schemes that consent cleanly rather than fight the rules. Where a site sits on the boundary of what's enabled, our feasibility work tells you early - before the consenting strategy becomes an expensive surprise. We can then work with you to engage a planner and council as needed.
Performance as a selling point.
First Light Studio are certified Homestar Designers and Assessors, so ratings targets are designed in from concept and certified in-house. For developments, Homestar isn't just compliance - certified homes qualify buyers for discounted green lending at most major banks, and performance is increasingly what differentiates units in a crowded market.
Housing that builds community.
Multi-unit design is dense-living design: privacy without isolation, shared space that works, and homes that feel individual within a repeated system. Projects like Our Whare Our Fale - designed with and for the Pacific community - and our community housing work show what medium density can be when it's designed for the people living there.
Built to be built.
We design multi-unit housing as a system, not one house copied twenty times: a disciplined materials palette and construction methods matched to the project - CLT, off-site prefabrication, or conventional timber framing - tested against QS estimates at every stage.
Selected multi-unit projects
Performance, certified in-house
First Light Studio are certified Homestar designers and certifiers - one of the few New Zealand practices able to design a development to a Homestar target and certify it under one roof. Homestar is the New Zealand Green Building Council's rating tool for healthy, efficient homes, and increasingly the benchmark that councils, Kāinga Ora and lenders expect of multi-unit development. Designing to the rating from concept, rather than assessing it after the fact, protects both the certification outcome and the budget. Where a project calls for more, we work with the professionals to design certified Passive Houses.
Your questions, answered
Te Āhuru Mōwai Townhouses | Whanga
Porirua, New Zealand
Cardrona Abodo Alpine Village
Cardrona, New Zealand
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Multi-unit and medium-density housing, community and cultural buildings, heritage restoration and adaptive reuse, and commercial fit-outs. Recent projects range from a regional performing arts centre to award-winning multi-unit housing in Wellington and Palmerston North.
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Yes, from feasibility and yield studies through resource consent, detailed design and construction. Our recent multi-unit work has won NZIA Architecture Awards in consecutive years, and our in-house Homestar capability means ratings targets are designed in from day one. -
Homestar is the New Zealand Green Building Council's independent rating for the health, efficiency and sustainability of homes. Councils and Kāinga Ora increasingly require it on multi-unit projects, and most major banks tie discounted green lending to certified ratings. First Light Studio are certified Homestar designers and assesors, so certification is managed in-house rather than through a third party.
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Yes. Our restoration of the Sir Howard Morrison Centre, alongside Shand Shelton, in Rotorua won a Master Builders Commercial Property Gold Award for heritage and restoration, alongside an NZIA Award for Public Architecture. We work across seismic strengthening, adaptive reuse and full restoration.
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Yes, the Passive House standard applies to buildings of any type or scale, and its certainty around energy use and indoor environment is especially valuable for buildings that serve the public. We assess the right performance pathway - Homestar, Passive House, or targeted upgrades, at feasibility.
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Get in touch with a description of the project and site. For developers, we typically begin with a feasibility and yield study; for community organisations, a briefing workshop to define scope and budget before design begins.
Contact First Light Studio.
If you're interested in working with us, complete the form with a few details about your project. We'll review your message and get back to you within 48 hours.
Why First Light?Design Led - Architecture that enhances how you live and adds long term value.
Sustainable outcomes - Better performance, comfort, and lower environmental impacts.
Collaborative process - Clear communication and guidance from concept to completion.