F. Gordon Wilson Fellowship announced
F. Gordon Wilson; announcing the Fellowship at the 2022 National Architecture Awards in Christchurch were Wilson’s granddaughter Julia Wilson Mandell, daughter Marilyn Mandell, sons Tony and Peter Wilson, daughter Sara Wilson and architect Ken Davis.
Te Kāhui Whaihanga New Zealand Institute of Architects and the family of former Government Architect F. Gordon Wilson have established the F. Gordon Wilson Fellowship to help address the issue of public housing in Aotearoa New Zealand.
The Fellowship seeks to promote creative design thinking, problem-solving, and new ideas and approaches to this country’s significant unmet housing needs through a self-directed research project. It also aims to cultivate new housing leaders who can contribute to the ongoing transformation of public housing in New Zealand.
A design champion for state housing in New Zealand, Wilson led the creation of the innovative State Housing programme, which included thousands of new single, duplex and multi-unit houses, including the Berhampore Flats (built in 1939–1940), Dixon Street State Flats (1941–1944), McLean State Flats (1943–1944) and Hanson Street Flats (1943–1944) in Wellington, and Auckland’s Grey’s Avenue Flats (1945–1947) and Symonds Street Flats (1945–1947). The Dixon Street Flats were awarded a gold medal by the NZIA in 1947.
The Fellowship was initiated by architect Ken Davis after discussions with the Wilson family and partner support will come from agencies and organisations such as Kāinga Ora and Te Tūāpapa Kura Kāinga, Ministry of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), as well as others worldwide.
