Ron Pynenburg feels most at home, when he’s outside it. “Of the top ten experiences in my life, more than half of them are tramping trips,” says Ron. “I’ve been walking in the hills for more than 40 years.”

Seeking the space and solitude that only the backcountry can hold, Ron joined his first tramping club at age 17. Studying architecture at university in between tramping trips, he met his classmate Ken Collins and the two started Pynenburg & Collins in 1981. Years later, Ron’s passion for the outdoors and architecture converged.

Representing his club on the Tararua Aorangi Huts Committee in 1987 led to regular contact with DoC staff. From 1995 Ron has worked on numerous projects for DoC with the highlight being a project to create the next generation of backcountry huts. More than two decades later, Pynenburg & Collins has designed over 90 huts, located from Stewart Island in the south, through all the South and North Island ranges, and up as far north as the Cavalli Islands.

“Following your passion and recognising what you do well is important too,” he explains. “I know passion’s a common word but the question is, what interests you, what makes it easy to go to work? If you love it, then you’re likely to do it well and eventually you’ll get paid for doing it well. Take a skill and develop it into an expertise. From my early teens, I started helping my father with painting (he was a master painter) and building work on our homes, then over school holidays I ended up working for painters and builders. That led to architecture in the same way that tramping led to DoC and Antarctica; it’s all felt like a natural consequence of developing a passion on top of a skill.”

The love for architecture has translated into residential projects as well – particularly with alterations and additions. He says often a couple will buy a house, but when kids come along the house suddenly isn’t working as well. In this common scenario, buying another house can be more expensive than renovating, so people choose to upgrade the house to fit the growing family. Each time he’s faced with this kind of brief, the variables are always completely different – it’s a totally different kettle of fish compared to starting afresh. And Ron loves the challenge. For him, success comes from asking, “How do you want to live your life?”, listening carefully to the answer, thinking it through and responding to the client’s needs rather than your own preconceived ideas.

Ron’s self awareness and grounded, collaborative approach to getting things done has infused his approach to work and life. When he’s not in the office, you’ll know where to find him... or perhaps with over 5 million acres of national park land in Aotearoa, you won’t. Ron lives in Christchurch with his family, based out of the South Island office. One of his favourite off-the-grid escapes is Nelson Lakes National Park.

“I’ve spent plenty of nights in miserable huts and that certainly doesn’t enhance someone’s experience. I want to create warm, dry, welcoming shelters from the storm; ones that enhance your backcountry experience, give you a sense of place, of where you are in the backcountry. It can also be something small, like the placement of a window over a view, that builds an experience into a memory,” says Ron.

“Me? I’m happy to pitch a tent or sleep in the open; sit at a fire with a billy – there’s nothing better than that. I make huts because they give anyone the chance to experience the backcountry the same way I have.”

CONNECT WITH Ron

LEARN ABOUT WORKING WITH US