Month: April 2009

  • from the Similarity Files – BHP Building, Melbourne

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    140 William Street (formerly BHP House), Melbourne, Australia Architect: Yuncken Freeman, Skidmore Owings & Merril, 1967 Ok, so this one is probably more widely ‘known’ than the previous example that I raised of international works of architecture that bear strong resemblance to buildings that we might find on our own Wellington streets, but it is worth

  • 1946 was an eventful year

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    Of course everyone knows that the Arch Centre was born – no doubt on a dark and windy Wellington evening – on Tuesday the 23rd of July 1946 in the Baronia Lounge.

  • A PLAY on TIME – 20under40 – 2009

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    Returning in early 2009 after an absence of a couple of years, the 20 under 40 competition was once more staged by Arch Centre, this time with a concentration on the more relaxed side of Architecture – namely, a Play on Time. The brief was a short and gruesome one, set in the near distant…

  • Video of the Week XII: Poundbury: Building Communities

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    Here is a companion piece to the Prince Charles post of a couple of weeks ago (I hope it is clear by now that my Zaha comments were made with tongue embedded firmly in cheek…). Here, for your viewing pleasure (or displeasure perhaps?), is a very short clip propounding the virtues of Poundbury: What do…

  • Lecture: Chris Kelly – Ancestors of the Mind

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    impressions from a 2008 trip to europe when: 6:00pm friday, 1st may 2009 (drinks/nibbles from 5:30pm) where: LT1, school of architecture & design, 139 vivian street

  • Annual General Meeting

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    Our AGM is  TODAY at 6pm – Thursday, 23rd April, and it is really important that we get as many of our members there as we have some pretty important business to discuss. If you are a current member, we want you there. You will have received the mailout of the newsletter and the email…

  • Naked streets: the Dutch are doing it – why don’t we?

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    “Naked streets” or “Naked roads” – some even call them (more tamely) “Shared Spaces” – have apparently been around since the 1980s.   Credited to Hans Monderman, the Naked street idea is based on a psychological approach which supports designing roads to reflect the different cognitive skills needed in different transport situations.  Shared suburban spaces…

  • Hot Rod Heritage: Are we too precious about architecture?

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    Such a question will no doubt be met with cries of “What is this woman on about?” And justifiably so. New Zealand’s current stock of architectural heritage is thinly spread, under-researched, under-resourced, largely uncared for and still struggling under the weight of a nineteenth-century bias. It survives, it could be argued, from recession to recession;…

  • Video of the Week XI: Libidinal Gehry confronts asexual Eisner

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    I’d like to say the title says it all, but the mental image is just too disturbing – and there isn’t really a whole lot of confronting going on. What we are exposed to here (if I can use that expression to open a discussion of sexuality), is an excellent piece of post-design rationalization from…

  • Starter Homes

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    The results have come back, but I haven’t seen much comment yet – so why don’t we start it off? The Department of Building and Housing, when under Shane Jones as a Minister, kicked off a competition to design a small scale affordable home. The competition requirements were quite stringent – not much room for…

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