The Pertinence of Park Mews
I was sitting in my office one day minding my own business when the phone rang. The caller introduced himself as comedian Billy Connolly’s New Zealand agent. “Billy wants to meet you,” he said. Apparently on the way in from the airport, he’d passed Park Mews in Hataitai and stated: “The architect clearly possesses a sense of humour.” Read More Read More
Enduring Award
Roger Walker’s 1969 Flint House recently won an Enduring Architecture Award in the NZIA Auckland Region Local Architecture Awards. Judges commented, “This perfectly maintained example of a house from a classic period of New Zealand architecture is a reminder of how fresh, playful and essentially novel Roger Walker’s work was — and still is. In a series of individually-articulated volumes set in a grove of kauri trees,... Read More
Enduring Architecture Award
On Friday 25 October, we received an Enduring Architecture Award from the Waikato / Bay of Plenty Branch of the NZIA. The house was designed for Christine and Norman Harris in Lake Crescent in 1980. They moved to Katikati a few years later. Fortunately an enduring architecture award does not require the owners to endure, but their house did also receive an NZIA Branch award in 1981,under their watch. Sally Wise, the new owner, repaired the cedar weatherboard... Read More
Airport terminal on the rocks?
Love it or loath it, ‘The Rock’ at Wellington Airport, welcomes visitors to a unique place, with a unique building. It doesn’t directly add any more visitors to the airport, but it does make their arrivals and departures more memorable and this is clearly its purpose. 30 years ago we did the same thing for Whakatane Airport. Our clients, the District Council, wanted a ‘gateway’ building that would welcome visitors to the Bay of Plenty. They... Read More
A colour filled evening
I had a rare and wonderful serendipity experience last night. The annual Resene Colour Awards were on, and as the office had not made a submission this year, I thought the least I could do was wear my yellow leather jacket for the occasion. Years ago Dulux had a similar function. The MC on that occasion was Gary McCormack ,who lambasted the guests for all wearing black at a Colour Awards event. One of Billy Connolley’s memorable lines is ‘there... Read More
