Auckland, New Zealand
AD Architects is an Auckland-based practice led by Andrew Daly, delivering thoughtful residential, commercial and renovation projects across New Zealand.
View projects
Featured project
Manukau Harbour
Residential — New Build
Beachlands
A contemporary concrete residence designed around its coastal outlook and landscape.
Residential — Renovation
Mission Bay
A whole-home renovation transforming a classic villa into a modern family residence.
Residential — New Build
Manukau Harbour
A cantilevered bush retreat engineered to float above the native fern forest, with panoramic harbour views.
Before
Before
After
After
After
Residential — Renovation
Rawhitiroa, Opua
A thoughtful whole-home renovation — restoring character while transforming functionality and finish.
Residential — New Build
Whitford
A striking rural residence with soaring steel-framed volumes, seamlessly connecting indoor and outdoor living across an expansive open plan.
Residential — New Build
St Heliers
A bold, characterful home with a distinctive material palette — dark timber, copper cyprus oxide cladding and golden accents creating a residence that commands attention.
AD Architects has been recognised by the Auckland/Waikato Registered Master Builders Association across multiple years and categories.
AD Architects is guided by a set of principles that inform every decision — from the earliest sketch through to the final detail. Our approach is practical, holistic, and always centred on the people who will use the spaces we design.
Start a conversationWe take a serious view of being responsible for the buildings we create in terms of practical solutions, robust detailing and client requirements.
The acceleration in technological advances has transformed the environments we live, work and play in, opening up new synergies and spatial opportunities. Particular attention is focused on flexible spaces that can adapt to changes in lifestyle. Flexible spaces add value by intensifying use — achieving 200% useable space optimises resources, both fiscally and environmentally.
AD Architects takes a practical response to sustainability, committed to a holistic approach — not a bolt-on technology. We concentrate on straightforward solutions that offer sustainable advantages without compromising resources.
Our engagement process is guided by self-imposed principles of trust, transparency, fairness and inclusion. Underlying all relationships is the ability to listen — well designed buildings reflect the lifestyles of those who use them.
We strive to achieve an incomplete separation of individual spaces, distorting the threshold — what we call a "diminishing periphery." The result is an open-ended architecture that allows flow between enclosure and exposure.
AD Architects is an Auckland-based practice with a reputation for thoughtful, enduring design. Under the leadership of Andrew Daly, the practice has delivered homes, commercial spaces, and renovation projects across the Auckland region and beyond.
Andrew brings a hands-on approach to every project — working closely with clients from the earliest conversations through to the final build, ensuring the vision stays clear and the result exceeds expectations.
Every project is treated as a unique opportunity to create something that improves lives, adds value, and stands the test of time.
Every home should be a place filled with happiness, warmth and security — not just a building that looks good, but one that works beautifully, feels right, and holds its value for decades. That takes considered, principled design from the very start.
At the earliest stage of design, Andrew provides an all-inclusive guide to where your budget may land — giving you the opportunity to shape the process and ensure cost expectations are met before a single drawing is committed to.
Redundant space costs money and erodes liveability. Andrew eliminates it — maximising usable area, considering multi-use spaces, and ensuring every square metre is purposeful, private where it should be, and connected where it matters.
Orientation, sun, wind, views and neighbours are all considered from the outset. Good site planning reduces costs, improves comfort, and ensures your home works with the land — not against it.
A fully inclusive design process where you take the lead on finishes and fittings, while Andrew ensures a cohesive outcome. Detailed documentation reduces on-site guesswork, allows accurate pricing from the outset, and mitigates builder assumptions.
Beautiful homes don't need to be complicated to build. Forms that are elegant and efficient reduce detailing risk, material waste, and labour — while still achieving design delight through that one special element that makes a home truly yours.
Andrew stays engaged throughout the build — reviewing progress payments, resolving queries, managing retention and certifying practical completion. You have an expert in your corner from first sketch to final handover.
"The trick is to masterfully weave these design principles into a cohesive solution — resulting in a home that is not only a great place to live, but a genuinely great investment."
— Andy Daly, B.Arch (Registered) NZCAD