New Zealand Institute of Architects 2012 Conference

South and East: Our Place in a New World is the name of the 2012 New Zealand Institute of Architects conference. The inspiration for the theme South and East is that here in New Zealand, we are used to thinking of ourselves as occupying a peripheral and largely forgotten corner of the globe. As architects, we seem always to be reminded of our distance from the Northern hemisphere and (mostly) western centres of power, influence, and innovation. But the world is changing.

China recently strode past Japan to take up a position behind the United States as the world’s second largest economy. The world’s fastest growing cities are located on the African and Indian sub-continent. Such rapid urban development and economic growth is shifting long idle centres of gravity towards the south and east.

Key speakers include Yung Ho Chang, from Atelier Feichang Jianzhu in China; Gurjit Singh Matharoo, from Matharoo Associates in India; Richard Hassell, from WOHA in Singapore; Peter Rich, from Peter Rich Architects in South Africa; Junya Ishigami from junya.ishigami + associates in Japan; Paloma Vera, from Canovera Arquitectura in Mexico and Michael Lavery, from m3architecture in Australia. The conference will be complemented by an industry exhibition.