Architecture NZ

Original Design | Creative Excellence NZ Designed & Made | Support Local fletcher-design.nz ■

OF THE MANY INSIGHTS COVID-19 brings, the realisation that our economy is built as a house of cards is one of the more sobering. Two months into this global pandemic, what seemed so substantial and glittering – booming cities, 24x7 global travel, alw

WELL, WHO’D A THOUGHT IT would come this way, some goddam little bug that no one can see, sneaking in and laying waste the party? I thought the end would be apocalyptic, the skies falling, the inexorable flooding of low lying lands, a slow incrementa

IN NO LESS THAN THREE editorials in under a year, Chris Barton has repeatedly flagged his concern around the lack of any real response from the architectural community addressing climate emergency. While addressing the negative effects of demolition

ONE IDEA OF A THEORY OF DRAWING IS that a drawing is a collection of ideas similar to any architectural theory. My theory of drawing has developed from the engagement with the drawings of architects and artists I have studied and the influence that h

AN ASSERTIVE NEW LIBRARY HAS EMERGED IN Johnsonville’s town centre on Wellington’s road north from the western suburbs of Karori, Wadestown and Khandallah. Immediately noticeable for its angularity and tallness on the street edge, its openness and th

Borders opened a huge outlet on Queen Street. Its stock must have been as large as every other central city bookstore put together, with shelves of magazines, books, music, videos and two cafés threaded through a warren of spaces and levels that burr

IT WASN’T A SURPRISE WHEN THE SITE visit was cancelled. New Zealand had just moved to Alert Level 3 so the “no visitors allowed” edict from Metlifecare’s chief executive Glen Sowry seemed entirely sensible. Safety first. But, it was also paradoxicall

University of Auckland’s new Faculty of Engineering, Te Herenga Mātai Pūkaha, aka B405, says, in the immortal words of Rem Koolhaas, “fuck context”. When he said it in S, M, L, XL, Koolhaas was talking about supersized buildings: “Bigness is no longe

Combobulation Station UNCANNY ARCHITECTURE FOR UNCOMMON OBJECTS Earth has long staged a hospitable host to humans. However, insatiable consumption has damaged the future of its hospitality. As a new ecological equilibrium unfolds, not only does a phy

Rottenomics: The Story of New Zealand’s Leaky Buildings Disaster BY PETER DYER BATEMAN BOOKS, 2019 Peter Dyer examines everything he believes caused ‘the perfect storm’ that led to New Zealand’s ‘leaky building syndrome’, arguing it can be largely sh

Tall: The design and construction of high-rise architecture EDITED BY GUY MARRIAGE ROUTLEDGE, 2019 Designed to help those in the industry anticipate design ‘traps’ they might not know about before falling into them, this book is full of ‘lessons lear

The face of architectural practice in New Zealand is constantly changing. One part of the role of Te Kāhui Whaihanga New Zealand Institute of Architects (NZIA) is to ensure its members remain abreast of all new developments. In order to be admitted t