Downsizing

In the 1940’s my parents built a classic brick and tile on ¼ acre in Hamilton suburbia and lived there for the rest of their lives. It was a nuclear family home of its time. After us kids left home, three of the four bedrooms remained empty. The land remained, with its maintenance intensive lawn, and was never subdivided. For the last fifty years or so in developed countries, it has been a demonstrable measure of success to own a large site upon... 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

Gentlemen, Start Your Engines.

I’m not a fan of the term ‘petrolhead’. With the new fuels on the scene,  The terms should include ‘dieselhead’, ‘electrichead’ or even a ‘hybridhead’. I prefer to call myself  a ‘car-culturist’.   And it’s with this hat on that I was driven to visit the last ever round of the methanol-blend fuelled V8 Supercars, on the leafy streets of Hamilton. It was brilliant and I loved it. I stayed with my brother, and was also able... Read More