Timber posts with nautical rope strung between them are being proposed for segments of the Manners Mall in Wellington, in an effort to stop people crossing the road ‘illegally’. The proposal is by a WCC Councilor, Leonie Gill, who appears shocked and horrified that Wellingtonians have such a care-free attitude to crossing the road. Several people have been knocked down by buses since the former pedestrian mall was converted to a narrow 2-way bus lane, although most of them have been outside the former mall, not inside. She thinks that barriers are the answer. Is this a good idea?

Commenters on stuff’s online blog so far seem equally split, Read the rest of this entry »

NZIA Conference 2012 – South and East: Our Place in a New World
Start: 11:00 a.m., Thu 16 February 2012
End: 11:30 a.m., Sat 18 February 2012
Provider: New Zealand Institute of Architects

Where: Viaduct Events Centre, 161 Halsey Street, Auckland
Presenters: Yung Ho Chang – China
Yung Ho Chang is principal of the Beijing practice Atelier Feichang Jianzhu (FCJZ) and a professor and in the Architecture Department at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Richard Hassell – WOHA, Singapore
Richard Hassell, a graduate of the University of Western Australia and RMIT University, established the Singapore-based firm WOHA with fellow partner Wong Mun Summ in 1994.

Junya Ishigami – junya.ishigami + associates, Japan
Junya Ishigami is principal of the Tokyo practice junya.ishigami + associates which he established in 2004 after working in the office of Kazuyo Sejima.

Michael Lavery – m3architecture, Australia
Michael Lavery, a graduate of QUT and RMIT, is a director of Brisbane-based m3architecture, which he joined in 1999.

Gurjit Singh Matharoo – Matharoo Associates, India
Gurjit Singh Matharoo is principal of Matharoo Associates, the firm he founded in Ahmedabad, India, in 1992 after a short stint working in the Ticino canton of Switzerland.

Peter Rich – Peter Rich Architects, South Africa
Peter Rich is principal of Johannesburg-based Peter Rich Architects, which he established in 1973.

Paloma Vera – Canovera Arquitectura, Mexico
Paloma Vera is a partner in Canovera Arquitectura, an architecture and urbanism practice based in Mexico City which she founded with Juan Carlos Cano in 1995.
Cost
NZIA Member: $460.00 Including GST
Non-Member: $690.00 Including GST

Amora Hotel, 170 Wakefield Street
Central city, Wellington
Presenters: Greg Baker
Fire and Structural Engineering Manager BRANZ

Peter Collier
Senior Fire Engineer BRANZ

Dr Anthony Abu
NZ Fire Service Commission Lecturer in Fire Engineering at the University of Canterbury

Charles Fleischmann
Associate Professor at the University of Canterbury

Brent Houston
Consultant
Cost
NZIA Member: $87.00 Including GST
Non-Member: $87.00 Including GST
The seminar structure will include:
– General overview of Christchurch earthquakes, peak ground accelerations and general information about the event
– Structural performance and fire
– Passive fire protection
– Active fire protection
– Egress- emergency evacuation

Cement and Concrete Association of New Zealand
Where: Victoria University of Wellington, School of Architecture, 139 Vivian Street, Wellington
Presenters: Ralf Kessel, Registered European Architect,
Project Manager for Cement & Concrete Association of New Zealand (CCANZ)

Dr. Larry Bellamy, Civil Engineer
Associate Professor at RMIT University, Melbourne.
Research specialties include thermal performance of buildings.

Roger Claedingboel, M+E Engineer,
Senior Business Developer for Integrated Environmental Solutions

The seminar will place an emphasis on:

• Understanding the principles of passive solar design for residential housing
• Optimizing the benefits of thermal mass (concrete and concrete masonry)
• Exploring thermal performance modeling software, and how they can be integrated into the design process
• Demonstrating IES VE-Ware – a whole-building annual energy and carbon usage tool

Brian MacKay-Lyons is a sheep farmer and sea kayaker who also happens to be a world-renowned architect. Born and raised in Arcadia, Nova Scotia, Brian studied in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. He has worked and studied in China, Japan and Italy, returning to Nova Scotia in 1983 to challenge the region’s ‘brain drain’ and make an architectural contribution to the area. Since then, he’s become a leading proponent of regionalist architecture, designing a bold portfolio of houses and, increasingly, important public buildings in Canada and abroad. He has won five Canadian Governor-General’s medals for architecture, as well as the American Institute of Architects’ Honor Award. Don’t miss your chance to hear from this visionary architect on his New Zealand visit.

Cost
NZIA Member: $15.00 Including GST
Non-Member: $20.00 Including GST

They say that you never forget where you were, or what you were doing, when a major event happens – Man Walking on the Moon, John F Kennedy’s assassination, the destruction of the Twin Towers, or the All Blacks winning the World Cup (in the case of myself, and I suspect many of us, it is: in school, out of school, in a flat in Mt Vic, and in front of a tv). In a similar manner, there are times marked by significant events – the one that springs to mind is the declaration of the End of the Modern Movement, with the demolition of the AIA Award-winning housing project at Pruitt Igoe, on March 16, 1972.

“Upon completion in 1956, the project won design awards Read the rest of this entry »