The school is home to Dean Peter MacKeith, editor of Finnish architect Juhani Pallasmaa’s Encounters: Architectural Essays, and AIA Gold Medallist architect Marlon Blackwell.

Smith follows in the footsteps of an impressive list of architects who are now John G. Williams Fellows: Peter Eisenman, Chris Risher, Brian MacKay-Lyons, Julie Snow, Javier Sánchez, Coleman Coker, Larry Scarpa, Brian Healy, Wendell Burnette, Tom Kundig, Peter Rich, Vincent James and Jennifer Yoos, Michael Rotondi, Tod Williams and Billie Tsien, Sami Rintala and Dagur Eggertsson, Bill Massie, John Ronan, Hilary Sample, Brandon Clifford, Teddy Cruz, Pablo Pérez Palacios, Yolande Daniels, Sunil Bald, David Leven, Stella Betts, Fernanda Oppermann, Jose Herrasti and Chris Cornelius.

“As part of this, our office is teaching an Americanified Chchchchchanges studio that we’ve taught with Chris Barton over the last six years at the University of Auckland, live-testing iterative strategies for change and establishing new typologies for carbon-neutral buildings,” says Smith.

As Distinguished Visiting Practitioner in Architecture, Smith will teach at the school on three occasions this year, alongside Alex Waller from the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design, and deliver the John G. Williams Lecture.

Smith has also been named an adjunct professor at the University of the Free State in Africa, contributing to a growing PhD through creative practice programme. This role is mainly performed from Nelson but does involve some travel to Africa.