Yes, so we’re 70 next year, and the committee is working away at thinking about what this means and how we should celebrate.

One of the questions we’ve asked to get some perspective on the matter is: exactly how do we compare in the age stakes in relation to other like-minded organisations?  In part the question is a leftover one from our 60th in 2006, when we got an email from someone in England (sorry forgotten who) speculating on whether the Architectural Centre was one of the oldest organisations of its kind still going.

So we’ve started a list – feel free to suggest others – of voluntary, charitable organisations, advocating good design and architecture in the broadest sense, open to all those interested in design and architecture. Our manifesto and constitution have more detail.

This is what we’ve come up with so far (with a couple of historically important (landmark) architectural groups added to give some context) …

1881, 1886- | The Architectural League, New York

1928-1959 | Congrès International d’Architecture Moderne (CIAM)

1932-1935 | Architectural Research Group

1933-1957 | Modern Architectural Research Group (MARS)

1945-1995 | The Architects’ Collaborative (TAC)

1946-1968 | The Group, Auckland, NZ

1946– | Architectural Centre, Wellington, NZ

1965- | Auckland Architectural Association, Auckland, NZ

1966- | Chicago Architectural Foundation, Chicago, USA

1979- | Canadian Centre for Architecture, Montreal, Canada

1980- | Architekturforum Aedes, Germany

1985- | Danish Architecture Centre, Denmark

1986- | Amsterdam Centre for Architecture (ARCAM)

1988- | Netherlands Architecture Institute (NAI), Rotterdam, Netherlands

1991- | Architecture Foundation, London, England

1993- | Architekturzentrum Wien, Vienna, Austria

1995- | Deutsches Architektur Zentrum (DAZ), Berlin, Germany

1996- | Architecture Centre, Bristol, England

2000- | Arkitera Architecture Center, Istanbul, Turkey

2001- | Center of Contemporary Architecture (C:CA), Moscow, Russia

2002- | Philadelphia Centre for Architecture, Philadelphia, USA

2004- | Australian Architectural Association, Australia

2006- | Terreform ONE, New York, USA

2015- | Te Putahi: Christchurch Centre for Architecture & City-making, Christchurch, NZ