TAURANGA

Love Our Laneways
Thursday 13 – Friday 15 September
Tauranga CBD

The laneway next to Paper Plus on Grey Street was made over to RM Landscape and Beca Design Practice’s colourful, winning design from the earlier Laneway Design Competition (run in conjunction with the Groundswell Festival of Innovation). Tauranga’s CBD has great bones, with its compact, walkable grid structure and laneways. There was huge public interest in how a space typically used for parking could come alive by opening it up for everyone to enjoy.

The atmosphere over the three days from Thursday to Saturday was wonderful, with musicians, live art, yoga, interactive workshops and a cinema night on Saturday that held its own against competition from the rugby. It felt like a real community, sitting in the cosy laneway watching Citizen Jane: Battle for the City under the stars, with everyone enjoying freshly popped popcorn and lounging in chairs from ITM The Mount and beanbags donated by Nightowl Cinemas.

– Shara Paulo, Ignite Architects

SmartGrowth – Smart Talk
Wednesday 19 September
Tauranga Art Gallery

Tauranga needs to liven up the debate on intensification and this event certainly did that. It was so inspiring to have such a knowledgeable and passionate panel of experts, including Ignite’s own Michael Bilsborough, giving us the benefit of their experience in Auckland, Hamilton, Tauranga and beyond to show why having smaller sections and higher-density developments can enliven a city and still retain its heritage and character.

The session was a sell-out and we were required to release more tickets, which is fantastic and evidence of how fascinated Tauranga locals are by their city’s future. It is clear we’ve helped kickstart many conversations on urban design with this year’s Festival and I can’t wait to see what happens next.

– Shara Paulo, Ignite Architects

WELLINGTON

Flash Exhibitions
Thursday 20 – Friday 21 September; ongoing
various locations

Humbugaa is an art and architecture club started by Wellington architect Sam Kebbell and Melbourne painter Peter Adsett. During the Festival of Architecture this year, they’ve been running a series of ‘Flash Exhibitions’: fast-to-put-up / fast-to-happen / fast-to-come-down exhibitions that can happen anywhere: a corridor, elevator, bus stop, studio, office space or building lobby. Each exhibition begins at 17:00 and runs for half an hour. No catering. No fancy posters, just a quick fix to stimulate the mind before you head into the evening.

The week’s series began with artist John Cornish setting out a beautiful array of paper clay vessels behind the City Gallery’s Adam Auditorium. Billy Wilson continued his fascinating stress tests of paper. Wayne Churcher popped up at Havana Bar with some very compelling prints that are evocative of space, but don’t describe it in any literal sense.

There are more artists during the rest of the week including Aaron Frater, Marci Tackett, and Gill Newland. All of these artists are exploring materiality and perception in various ways – issues which are central to much of architectural practice, of course. Architectural graduates, students, and architects are in the fray too, so expect more Flash Exhibitions to pop up later in in the week, and after the festival. Check out the Humbugaa website for ongoing events.

– Sam Kebbell, Kebbell Daish Architects

CHRISTCHURCH

“Their Presence Could Work A Revolution”: Early Women Architects in New Zealand
Tuesday 18 September
Christchurch Art Gallery auditorium

The guest speaker of the evening, Elizabeth Cox, is an architectural historian based in Wellington. She is has her own heritage consulting and researching business. She also works for Heritage NZ and Ministry of Culture and Heritage. She have previously completed extensive researches on New Zealand womens history, so this topic is very close to her heart.

The evening was a great turnout. The audience came from many different walks of life, including architects, designers, engineers, women’s suffrage groups and the general public, who heard about the event from friends and the local community radio station.

Elizabeth told many stories about the women who blazed a trail for the fight for equal employment and education rights. There were some amazing characters who were relatively unknown and we wouldn’t be here without their trials and tribulations.

The lecture was recorded and broadcasted on community radio station Plains FM 96.9, and the podcast will be available for download from their website.

– Maria Chen, Athfield Architects

Various events
Thursday 13 September – Monday 17 September
Across Christchurch

The Canterbury Festival of Architecture kicked off on Thursday 13 September with a topical design forum, architects presenting public and private developments surrounding Cathedral Square – including Tūranga New Central Library and Te Pae Convention Centre, and MC’d by Regenerate Christchurch’s James Lunday to a full audience at Christchurch Art Gallery.

The following night, Wednesday 14 September, was the formal opening of Future Islands Exhibition at Ara Institute of Canterbury’s Kahukura building with a presentation by Dr Charles Walker – the exhibition is open throughout the weekend and continues until 26 September.

Sunday’s sunshine was perfect for a 30 pax Urban Sketchers tour led by Mario Luz through some of the adhoc areas of Christchurch’s CBD east, with coffees and beers included, and in the evening an Eames film was presented by CoCA.

The evening of Monday 17 September was the sold-out PechaKucha ChCh Vol. 36 event, discussing all things Circulating our City – from electric vehicles and bike share to the future transport options for our city.

The rest of the week includes a Grace Mortlock talk on Thursday 20th and a Wrap Party hosted by the grad group and heritage tours of the Arts Centre this weekend.

– Mike Callaghan, chair of NZIA Canterbury branch

DUNEDIN

Warehouse Precinct Open Buildings
Saturday 15 September

Architecture Week got off to a great start in Dunedin on Saturday with a tour through three refurbished and repurposed historic buildings.

Two of the projects were in the warehouse precinct, the Donald Reid building by McCoy and Wixon and 123 Vogel Street by McAuliffe Stevens and the third was the iconic Dunedin landmark the Captain Cook Tavern by Ed Elliot Architect.

Architect Craig McAuliffe led the tour through 123 Vogel Street which was built in 1889 and originally housed Reid, Maclean & Co.’s grain store. McAuliffe Stevens persuaded the owner to give over a large amount of floor area to create a three-storey atrium which is pivotal to the project, as it creates a main entry from the two frontages of the building and also joins the two distinct parts of the building together.

The tour focused mainly on the commercial fitout for one of Dunedin’s largest legal firms, Gallaway Cook Allen, completed at the end of 2016. Positioned over the entire top floor of 123 Vogel Street, this unique 1,800+ sqm commercial fitout inspired a paradigm shift in the way GCA work, with the main office layout consisting of mostly open-plan workspaces, with significantly less ‘traditional’ ‘closed’ offices.  

The entire layout follows a horizontal campus style, broken into two distinct hubs, separated by the three-storey atrium but connected by a bridge. The southern hub is dominated by the activity of greeting, meeting and play, while the entire northern hub is for working, with active breakout spaces for rest and research.

– Andrea Bell, bell + co architecture

University of Otago Walking Tour
Sunday 16 September

This event was a public architecture walking tour led by Michael Findlay through a selection of buildings at the University of Otago. The tour departed from the University Union Lawn, and guided by Michael, the group was led though the different buildings at the University. The tour started at the Mellor House, believed to be the oldest building on the University of Otago campus and built in 1862. When considering old University of Otago buildings, most people probably think first of the gothic architecture in the center of the campus, but the first section of that wasn’t built until 1879.

The tour continued through the Archway, built in 1914, which for many years was the formal entrance to the University, and past Marama Hall to the famous Clocktower Building.

The University of Otago’s tallest building, the Richardson Building, was also part of the tour together with some of the newer editions to the campus, like the Centre of Innovation and Information Services Building. Michael explained about the history of the different buildings and also spoke about how some of the University of Otago’s ageing buildings could be demolished to make way for new developments.

– Jonas Jessen Hansen, Dunedin-based architectural photographer

See here for the events that took place in Auckland and stay tuned for the second update of 2018 Festival of Architecture events next week.