Lectures on YouTube & TED. On a sleepy Sunday morning at the bottom of the world, I can sit engrossed in an argument forged by Koolhaas, Zumthor or Sejima, then tour buildings I won’t get to visit for another 10 years. I was around during the birth of the internet, but when I slip into another great clip, it still seems like the best invention in the world. 

Films on Fashion Designers. Lagerfeld Confidential, The Last Emperor, The September Issue, The Day Before, they’re all wonderful. Lagerfeld is always the showstopper, and his unparallelled ability to consume raw culture then conceive, express, refine, exhibit, produce, photograph and market so many collections in such rapid succession is intoxicating. It’s like architecture at high speed.

The Stock Camera App. It’s neither glamorous nor new, but I couldn’t make architecture without it. The city is littered with drawings made on walls, concrete slabs and off-cuts of framing timber. Pencil in one hand, phone in the other, these sketches can be in the hands of clients in Los Angeles before I even finish dialling their number. 

Peter Zumthor’s Thinking Architecture. This little collection of meditations on space and material is a recurring touchstone for me. Amidst our relentless exploration of technology, use and the potential of the city, this beautifully crafted book reaffirms the hard core of what’s important in architecture. Try and find the old red cloth-bound first edition, then treasure it forever more.

The Big Little City App. A while ago someone asked me to write some notes on Britomart. A couple of months later they turned up with this little gem — a guide to Auckland that’s great, despite my little contribution. The work of a smart team emboldened by a sophisticated software writer — this city never looked so good.