Elrond Burrell

Elrond Burrell is a Senior Lecturer in Architecture at Te Herenga Waka - Victoria University of Wellington. He is also director of VIA architecture Ltd, specialising in Passive House (Passivhaus) and low-carbon architecture, and on the board of Te Tōpūtanga o te Whare Korou ki Aotearoa, Passive House Institute New Zealand (PHINZ).

He previously served as Principal Advisor Architecture & Design in the Building System Performance branch of the Ministry of Business, Innovation, and Employment in the New Zealand government. There he led operational efficiency work on the Building for Climate Change programme and advised on the Building Code, sustainable design, and low carbon building procurement.

Elrond is passionate about improving people’s quality of life, health, and environmental impact through beautiful, sustainable, high-performance architecture.

An alumni of a Victoria University of Wellington (B.Arch First Class Honours, B.BSc) and University of Westminster (London), Elrond is a registered Architect (UK, NZ) and certified Passive House designer. He has over 25 years of experience as an architect, including projects across Aotearoa NZ, Australia, the UK, Canada, the US, and the Middle East. He was instrumental in the design and delivery of some of the UK’s first Passive House certified apartment buildings and social housing, and several Passive House certified schools.

Elrond is an international keynote presenter about Passive House and low-carbon architecture. He has presented at conferences in NZ, Australia, England, the US, Germany, and China.