RIP David Mitchell

New Zealand architecture has lost a treasure this week with the death of David Mitchell.     There will be much written about David by people much closer to him than I, but I would like to talk about his personal influence on me. Read More  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

RIP Oscar Niemeyer

One of the most enjoyable and informative architect documentaries I’ve ever seen is Fabiano Maciel’s A Vida e um Sopro. The seated interview with Oscar Niemeyer, interspersed with images of his life’s work, is a format that allowed Brasil’s most famous architect to rove freely on his philosophies of life and architecture. We thought that Philip Morris must have funded the film, as here was a fit 99-year-old chomping on a cigar all the... Read More