Its name and design are meant to evoke peace and reconciliation, but the proposed Olive Leaf building in historic Arrowtown has instead stoked division, backlash and now court action. Oliver Lewis reports. When the Eiffel Tower was proposed in Paris, a group of artists and writers lodged a petition of protest bemoaning it as a … Read more
Tāmaki Makaurau is a city under construction, but are Māori and Pasifika architects and designers being given the opportunities they deserve? It seems everywhere you go in Auckland right now, there’s a new development of some sort. Whether it’s a new bridge, playground, some public housing or a refreshed streetscape, almost all these projects include … Read more
Covid-19 forced us to reconsider our relationship with the places we occupy, writes architect Mat Brown – and these new priorities will influence the design of our spaces in future. I think it’s safe to say, on behalf of my profession, that architecture is a conservative art. We design places that affect people’s lives for … Read more
Until the sudden closure of Bauer Media in April, Simon Farrell-Green was the editor of HOME, New Zealand’s oldest architecture magazine. Here he explains what comes next. Being the editor of a major architecture magazine was the best job I ever had. I got it in 2016, after a career spent between Metro and freelancing … Read more
In October teams of second-year Unitec Architecture students designed, modelled, then constructed interactive light installations in Devonport’s Windsor Reserve for GLOW@Artweek. The brief is strict. Their budget is zero. And the installations must be zero waste too, both in the construction and in the afterlife of the projects. These strict conditions on Unitec’s installations for … Read more
In the depths of Unitec’s School of Architecture, teams of second-year students are preparing to put their first tangible projects in front of the public. Alex Braae went to meet one of the teams who will be transforming Devonport’s Windsor Reserve for GLOW@Artweek. Stepping into the room where all the creativity is being done, Unitec … Read more
What if you could grow a house from seed or 3D print a new subdivision in a week? The housing sector is ripe for disruption – could technology be the magic bullet we need? Jo Aitken sounds like she’s pitching an episode for the next season of Black Mirror. Her ideas about the future of … Read more
When the new Christchurch library Tūranga – widely praised for its indigenous motifs and design references – won a major award last week, the significant Māori input into its design apparently warranted no mention at all. Such erasure is becoming a trend, writes Rebecca Kiddle. I woke up on a grey winter’s morning last week … Read more
The Monday Extract: John Walsh and photographer Patrick Reynolds join forces to present a handsome new book about some structures in Auckland. Mackelvie Street Precinct, Ponsonby Road and Mackelvie Street The treatment of the shops’ white cement-sheet façades may be inspired by the pressed-tin ceilings of their Victorian and Edwardian neighbours, but on a blue-sky day … Read more
Business is Boring is a weekly podcast series presented by The Spinoff in association with Callaghan Innovation. Host Simon Pound speaks with innovators and commentators focused on the future of New Zealand, with the interview available as both audio and a transcribed excerpt. This week he talks to Nat Cheshire, self-described ‘fake architect’. About ten … Read more
Seven-and-a-half years since the quake, food is playing a critical role in how Christchurch rebuilds, according to the people behind a festival that celebrates the city’s regeneration. When you think about the aftermath of the 2011 Christchurch earthquake, food probably isn’t what springs to mind. But it was an important thread that ran through the … Read more
Whangārei architect Jade Kake has made a career changing behaviour through design, decolonising Māori thought patterns and outcomes through altering the environment in which they take place. But her next project at Te Rewarewa is by far the most ambitious yet. Don Rowe reports. There are few living arrangements as seemingly distant from te ao … Read more
Diana Wichtel won the non-fiction book of the year award in May with her Holocaust book Driving to Treblinka. Her partner Chris Barton writes about his own profound experiences – and life-changing revelations – when he accompanied Diana to the Nazi death camps. It was an odd place to be having a ridiculously obvious realisation about my life. … Read more
Three extraordinary women have taken their design and architecture skills and created a training programme for some of the country’s most vulnerable rangatahi. Head north on state highway one, stopping for a sandwich among the bright and busy architecture of Kawakawa. Past Moerewa’s giant AFFCO meatworks, glowering on the edge of town like a taniwha … Read more
The new government is aiming to build 100,000 new affordable homes – likely to be off-plan apartments and townhouses – in the next decade. But today’s designers and builders are already working flat tack. So what’s the fix? The answer lies with technology, writes two Auckland architects. Even after squinting carefully at the floor plan, … Read more
Devonport is getting that new retirement village but developer Ryman Healthcare has agreed to make it more like, you know, a village. Is everyone happy now? Well, almost. The citizens and architects of Devonport have won their dispute with Ryman Healthcare. The company is now just one legal step away from building its new 600-unit … Read more
This Labour Weekend, Christchurch welcomes back the Festival of Transitional Architecture, a biennial examination and celebration of the post-earthquake rebuild. Summer Hess talks city-making with the FESTA team. Most people wouldn’t plan an event in central city Christchurch while the army still controlled the Red Zone. But Jessica Halliday, an architectural historian and the co-founder … Read more
Gregory O’Brien is one of dozens of artists, architects and others hoping to get between the Āniwaniwa Visitor Centre and the DOC demolition crew, which is set to begin work on Monday morning (SCROLL DOWN FOR UPDATES) A bevy of architects are on the road to Te Urewera this evening, hoping to stop the Department … Read more
Late last month marked the launch of the 2016 Venice Biennale of Architecture, a global festival celebrating the best in building design ideas. For only the second time in its 36 year history, New Zealand was among the exhibitors, and Michael Barrett was there. Every two years the ancient and beautiful tourist-swamp of Venice hosts … Read more