Five Franks and a Phillip

I recently returned from mini sabbatical to the big USA. Naturally pilgrimages to iconic architectural houses were in order. I visited three Frank Lloyd Wrights and a Phillip Johnson, each open to the public and with highly informative guided tours. Top of the list was Wright’s iconic Fallingwater – well worth the four plus hour drive from Washington to its Pennsylvania location. It’s promoted as ‘Architecture as Experience’ and since it... Read More

Enduring Again

In addition to the Flint House, Roger Walker’s 1969 Stroud House also won an Enduring Architecture Award recently, this time in the NZIA Wellington Region Local Architecture Awards.   Judges commented; “This house has worn extremely well. It remains a wonderful insight into a more gentle and optimistic time. The tiny but nurturing scale is extraordinary and the ordinary materials are reassuring. The complex spaces and labyrinthine... 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

Island Time

My memories of Waiheke island was that at the end of a ferry ride, I arrived at an escape from Auckland suburbia into a rumpled and lushly covered landscape dotted with kiwi baches. A paradise for alternative Aucklanders wanting to escape the city. Now it has been discovered by the wealthy. Its holiday character has changed fundamentally because its desirability has led to great pressure on its limited land area. It is now effectively an elite suburb,... Read More

IN SITU CONFERENCE 2015

  Just as my cellphone needs regular recharging, my creative juices need replenishing. Every two years our Institute arranges presentations for us, from an array of local and international architects. They inspire, entertain, agitate and impassion us. Between the 10th and 13th of February last, this event happened at the Viaduct Events Centre in Auckland and it was brilliant. It’s great to learn how different cultures respond to design issues... Read More

ATH 1940-2015

Ath was adopted. His birth parents were 17 years old, so maybe that it why his mind remained perpetually young and inquiring. In November last year, a few of us architects of a certain age had our regular lunch in Wellington. At 12.30 Ath said he had to leave, in order to catch a flight to Dunedin at 2.30. ‘Thats fine’, we said, ‘you’ve plenty of time.’ Ath replied that he just had to pop into the hospital on the way to the airport,... Read More

Walker in the News

Roger Walker’s Avalon Townhouses recently featured in the Hutt News as an exemplar of urban intensification.  Read More

Hero House

While the Bay of Plenty recently I got the opportunity to indulge my interest in sustainable design with a visit Te Uru Taumatua, the new Tuhoe headquarters in Taneatua. I was fortunate in that both Tamati Kruger the chair of the Tuhoe Trust, and Kirsten Luke, its CEO, were on hand. They gave me an enlightening and inspiring tour of their pride and joy. Read More  Read More

Icon Envy

A recent survey commissioned by UK Building/Architecture website InBuilding.org was recently profiled in The Architects Journal under the headline, ‘It’s true: people don’t know what architects do.’ People visiting The Guggenheim in Bilbao or the Shard in London are given a bit of a clue as to what architects do. Having recently returned from a visit to Sydney, I tripped over at least two real eye poppers. One being American Frank... Read More

Bending Beauties

Ugly low buildings to a degree can merge with their surroundings, but ugly tall ones have nowhere to hide. Some years ago, when I was staying with an architect friend in Glasgow, I was invited to a planning meeting with the developer, his consultants, and the council to discuss a high rise proposal in that city.  The Glasgow District Plan has no height limits because it wants to control the design and appearance of buildings by means other than the... Read More