76 Small Rooms

Welcome to 2023! After our now-traditional summer hiatus we are back. Arch, Tash and Jeremy discuss this year's NZIA Gold Medal award winners Stevens Lawson, the work of David Chipperfield, and an article we loved by Kate Wagner before capping off our chat with the highlights of our summers. We're glad to be back into our year of exciting conversations! Theme Music: The Cosmic Wheels

To cap off 2022 we decided to get together with a few pals and discuss our year - our favourite buildings, our burning issues, and some reflections on the year that was. Thank you to all our listeners and supporters for listening this year, and we wish you a Meri Kihirimete and happy holidays - see you in '23 Theme Music: The Cosmic Wheels

We love a new book, and in this episode we talk to Elizabeth Cox, architectural historian and editor of Making Space: A History of New Zealand Women in Architecture. Elizabeth shared many of the stories Making Space tells, and a few more, in a generous chat with us last week. Beautifully designed, it tells over one hundred years of stories, illuminating many not previously in the historical record...

In our second interview from this year's New Zealand Institute of Architects Mini In:Situ Conference, we chat with Los Angeles based architect Michael Maltzan about housing as infrastructure and why he believes that the practice of architecture can provide solutions to complex environmental and social problems. Cover Photo via Columbia GSAPP (https://www.flickr.com/photos/gsapponline/18323955376)...

Our first interview from this year's New Zealand Institute of Architects Mini In:Situ Conference, is a fantastic talk with Italian architect and academic Mario Cucinella - founder and creative Director of Mario Cucinella Architects, based in Bologna and Milan. Mario's work is remarkable, varied, and highly experimental, and we were very lucky to speak with him. Our thanks to the NZIA for arranging...

Welcome to Episode 39! Today we talk with Nick Stevens and Gary Lawson about a very special project - the recently completed Auckland City Mission Homeground. We hope you enjoy the full story on the project's genesis, the innovation and many parties that helped bring it to fruition, and the rewards of patience, belief and persistence. More on the project here from architects Stevens Lawson https:/...

Welcome to Episode 38! Today we talk about the much debated Resource Management (Enabling Housing Supply and Other Matters) Amendment Bill, and its potential and impact on housing design, density, and placemaking. Tash is our resident expert in this field, so she's our guest on today's episode. You can read the government's release on what they believe the changes to the RMA will achieve: https://...

Welcome to Episode 37! After a long break we're back, and in this episode the whole crew of Tash, Arch, Jeremy and Mat talk with renown architect, urbanist, activist, and 2021 NZIA Gold Medal Winner Julie Stout. We loved our chat with Julie, covering sailing, drawing, her design process, and career highlights. It's good to be back and thanks for your patience! You can read Julie's Te Kāhui Whaihan...

Welcome to Episode 36! In this episode Tash, Jeremy and Arch are joined by Dr Anthony Hoete (Ngāti Awa, Ngāti Ranana) in a rollicking chat about his incredibly varied career so far. Taking in everything from his original education at University of Auckland, his innovation with co-design and placemaking, and a brief stint running hot-tub rave parties, this was a hugely enjoyable kōrero. Episode cov...

Welcome to Episode 35! In this discussion Mat, Tash, and Arch talk with Michael Milojevic, Professional Teaching Fellow at the University of Auckland's School of Architecture and Planning. Michael discusses his early interest in archeology and entry into architecture, his teaching journey and experiences, and what he's seen change over his time teaching. Episode cover photograph by Michael Milojev...

Welcome to Episode 34! In this discussion Jeremy, Tash and Arch talk with architect, educator, co-founder of Architecture+Women NZ and all-round Aotearoa legend Lynda Simmons. We hear from Lynda about her love of drawing, its use as an architectural teaching method, and fail to convince her to start a TikTok channel You can read Lynda's opinion pieces for Architecture NZ magazine here: https://www...

Welcome to Episode 33, our first of 2021. Tash, Jeremy and Mat discuss what they're looking forward to this year, a return to some favourite hot topics we'd love to see movement on, and Mat muses on what the New Zealand camping holiday tells us how we might shape our spaces without architects. Theme music by The Cosmic Wheels, pic by Arch (Nelson Dec 2020)

Welcome to Episode 32! We're back to the full complement of the team for this episode, talking about the delicious new book from Matt Arnold and Mary Gaudin, I Never Met A Straight Line I Didn't Like. We wandered into influential childhood experiences of architecture, and the relative merits of minimalism.

Welcome to Episode 31! The tighter team of Tash, Jeremy and Mat take on the traditional grumpy-neighbour-inducing topic of an updated Spatial Plan. This is the guiding planning document that sets out how Wellington will accommodate growth over the next couple of decades. The team discuss how the pros and cons of densification, the NIMBY angle on heritage preservation, and Tash’s future run for Min...

Welcome to Episode 30! Into the strange new post-lockdown Aotearoa mediascape comes a new magazine. "Fiercely local" and dedicated to New Zealand residential architecture, 'Here' launches on June 22. In this episode we talk to Here's editor Simon Farrell-Green about the current situation for print media, stories he hopes to tell, and what it takes to create, fund, and launch a design magazine. The...

Welcome to Episode 029! It's been a while since our last episode, and we're delighted to be back. This week we discuss the recent proposed executive order titled "Making Federal Buildings Beautiful Again", drawing on Kate Wagner's excellent article in The New Republic - https://newrepublic.com/article/156509/donald-trump-war-on-architecture. What are the implications of a style edict, and why the...

Welcome to Episode 28! In this episode we talk with the prolific and talented Matt Liggins. Matt works as an architect, artist, and teacher, and we discuss how these three practices relate to and support one another. Find out what inspires him, how an idea takes flight, and whether he'll change his name to Malcolm. Matt Liggins - http://www.mattliggins.com/

Welcome to Episode 27! We talk with NZ photographer David Straight about his recent book John Scott Works. It was a great discussion about David's introduction to his work through the contemptible demolition of the Aniwaniwa Visitor's Centre in 2016, and his reverence for the works he saw and included in his book. David Straight - https://davidstraight.net/ John Scott Works - https://www.masseypre...

Our sixth and final interview from this year's New Zealand Institute of Architects In:Situ Conference features our chat with Wolfram Putz, founding partner and CEO of Graft - an omnivorous studio taking on a fascinating range of work. We had lots to discuss with Wolfram, starting our chat on the common ground of sailing! Bio: https://www.insitu.nzia.co.nz/speakers/wolfram-putz Wofram's In:Situ tal...

In the fifth of our six interviews from this year's New Zealand Institute of Architects In:Situ Conference, we talk with Tina Gregorič & Aljoša Dekleva of Ljubljana, Slovenia. This enigmatic pair boast a wide range of architectural interests and outputs, and spoke compellingly about the value of research in their practise. We discussed their ideas around 'monomateriality', the architecture of livi...

In the fourth of our six interviews from this year's New Zealand Institute of Architects In:Situ Conference, we talk with Amin Taha of Groupwork Architects. After a wide range of experience at different practices Amin started his own architectural studio, later incorporating it as Groupwork. With his 15 Clerkenwell Close project well known for the demolition order now placed on it, Amin's talk on...

Welcome to our third of six interviews from this year's New Zealand Institute of Architects In:Situ Conference. In this episode we talk to Beijing-born architect Ma Yansong, founder of MAD Architects. Bio: https://www.insitu.nzia.co.nz/speakers/ma-yansong Ma's In:Situ talk can be viewed here https://vimeo.com/321606286

In our second of six interviews from this year's New Zealand Institute of Architects In:Situ Conference, we talk with Betsy Williamson of Williamson Williamson. Betsy's conference talk took us through a number of jewel-like creations that brought several generations of families together, but her skills extend to the city-wide scale as well. Bio: https://www.insitu.nzia.co.nz/speakers/betsy-william...

He's back! In our first of six interviews from this year's New Zealand Institute of Architects In:Situ Conference, we talk with Christopher Hawthorne. Now the Chief Design Office for Los Angeles, we catch up again on his goals for the city and some of the themes in his conference-opening address. Bio: https://www.insitu.nzia.co.nz/speakers/christopher-hawthorne Christopher's In:Situ talk can be vi...

Ever heard the comment "Architects don't know how to build"? In our 20th episode we talk to two architects qualified to talk to this criticism. Dave Strachan and Mike O'Sullivan both wield a toolbelt as ably as a pencil. We discuss how being able to build influences their work as architect. SGA - https://www.sgaltd.co.nz/ BOS - http://www.bosarchitecture.co.nz/