An Architect on the Road
On November 11 2016 I was awarded the NZIA Gold Medal. I believe this is what you get for working 45 years of 60 hour weeks. I felt honoured.
One of the things that come with this award ,as well as a very heavy round medal, is a book, and an enjoyable obligation to undertake a roadie trip around the country delivering a one hour illustrated talk at each of the eight NZIA branches, as an entree to the main course which is the annual ceremony of the Branch Awards.
Before the trip began and Inspired by Bruce Springsteen’s recent tour of NZ, I had a black T-shirt printed naming all the places and dates of the tour on the back with the Gold Medal logo on the front.
I prepared for quite some time beforehand by selecting projects about which there was a points to be made. I sorted through hundreds of images. I penned an outline script. I wanted to talk about banality, beauty, beaurocracy, the spectrum of housing, cost effective construction, architectural education, mentoring, and design legibility. I wanted to present with passion, joy and a touch of humour.
So off I flew for the first gig on March 17 at the Trinity Wharf in Tauranga. There was a good turnout. Signing copies of the book after my talk, I felt like a rockstar. However I made the mistake in trying to cover 45 years of projects in one hour. After 1½ hours I had to rush to a close.
Be less rambling and more focused was the message I learnt.
April 26 saw me in Auckland in Gordon Moller’s new ASB Theatre. Nice place but a lot of empty seats. My mates that are still alive from our 60s’ class were there along with a lot of students. The traffic at 4.00pm on a Friday afternoon in Auckland deterred most I suspect.
Then on May 5 in Nelson, I was at the beautiful new Suter gallery extension. My stories had gotten more polished and I signed a lot of books. My girlfriend Moerangi came with me and we had a good look around New Zealand’s sunniest city.
My fourth outing was on May 19 at a lovely new art gallery in Hastings. I had got a bit better at presenting by this time, by concentrating on fewer and more meaningful stories. I still took over an hour long but nobody left. I was happy and it was great to meet former employees and local practitioners.
The fifth talk was at the Art Gallery Theatre in Wellington on Monday night May 16. As a home town lad, this was expected to be the best attended of the eight. It was, indeed so much that people were turned away and I had to perform a return show again the following Saturday May 20, after doing Palmerston North the night before.
‘You were very irreverent’ said a chap I met in the lobby. ‘You weren’t irreverent enough’ said another just behind him.
A student wrote a very nice blog about the talk.
Then May 24 at Christchurch at the recently re-opened, and award winning (on the night), Christchurch Arts Centre. Most of my mates outside Wellington were there and much merriment and imbibing ensued.
On June 9 the tour finally ended high over Queenstown, at the magnificent Skyline. I think by now I had finally got the right balance between the delivery of stories presented with humour and information with the time available.
The next morning Moerangi and I took ourselves off in our Jucy rental and drove to Glenorchy. The road is said to be one of the best road trips on the planet.
Through a place called Paradise, we had an unforgettable excursion by jetboat, foot and 4 wheel drive bus deep into the Dart Valley. Not a building in sight but at the end of a long speaking tour about them, I deserved a break from them.
Stuart Gardyne, the 2015 Gold Medallist said ‘I finally got it right in 2016 with my last talk’ I don’t know who this year’s recipient will be but I will certainly go along to hear him or her.
There are so many different perspectives in our business.
I’d like to thank the NZIA,in particular Daryne Begbie, for all their work in ( I think) making my tour a success.
It was a fantastic experience to see the breadth of beautiful built designs, especially in the regions, produced this year, and it was a great way to recharge the batteries.
In the presence of a masterpiece
Every once in a while as I walk through a building that I have never visited before, I am overwhelmed by the feeling that I am in the presence of a masterpiece.
This is what I sensed last weekend during a visit that was part of an architectural tour of Melbourne. Adding to the sense of wonder was the knowledge that my colleagues and I were among the first to experience a building that, when complete, is bound to grace the cover of every architectural magazine in the world.
The subject of my admiration is the largest work by Australia’s only Pritzker prizewinning architect Glenn Murcutt – a contemporary mosque in Newport, a 20 minute train ride from central Melbourne.
Welcome to the past
I took part in a number of events last week for Architecture Week including this story which appeared in a number of newspapers at the beginning of the week.
They were well organised, informative, and well attended events and which it was both a privilege and a pleasure to be part of the week. A big shout out to all those who helped organise it.
But my personal highlight would have gone unnoticed by most.
I delivered a lecture at my alma mater Auckland University as part of its ‘Fast Forward’ series.
At the conclusion of my talk, and after dealing with some very good questions from the pretty full theatre, two groups of people came up to the lecturn to see me.
The first was our Rotorua Rainbow Springs client, who I had not seen for 30 years.
Now a sprightly 82-years-old, he reminisced fondly about the buildings he had commissioned and some overseas travel we had enjoyed together. Read More
On Screen Architecture
This is a shout out for the Resene Architecture & Design Film Festival 2016.
I suggest that you grab a copy of the excellent programmes and go see something that interests you.
Miss M and I have been to three so far.
First up, and the highlight thus far, was Strange & Familiar: Architecture on Fogo Island.
Born on the remote Newfoundland island, Zita Cobb left for university at a time when multinationals had all but decimated the local fishing industry and destroyed its economic base. Fast forward a few decades, and now a multi millionaire (through a timely entry into the fibre optics industry) Zita is pumping some of her fortune into re-invigorating her childhood home. Read More
RIP Zaha Hadid
Just last month I watched a film about the life and work of Zaha Hadid. The worlds most famous female architect was eloquent and compelling as she explained her creative process. She looked so well and healthy.
I have come to expect great architects have longevity.
Oscar Neimeyer went at 104, Frank Lloyd Wright at 92, and Philip Johnson at 98. I.M.Pei is still alive at 98, and Frank Gehry is 89 not out.
Zaha’s death last week at 65 is quite wrong and a total shock.
She went for many lonely years without building anything, then along came the Fire Station commission at the German Vitra campus at Weil am Rhein.
