Our February/March cover

Here's our new cover, which will be on newsstands February 1. This is our annual 'Art Houses' issue; the cover image was taken by photographer Jeremy Toth in an Auckland penthouse with an extraordinary art collection (the penthouse was designed by Cheshire Architects).

The skull artworks are by Andy Warhol, while the koru work in the background is by Gordon Walters. The sculpture on the hearth is by Francis Upritchard, and the carvings in the background are 19th-century ancestral protection figures from Belu, Timor.

Also in this issue: we visit artist Judy Millar's windswept home and studio (designed by Richard Priest) on a dramatic clifftop west of Auckland, Sarah Maxey's 1980s Wellington cottage by Roger Walker, a vineyard home in Hawkes Bay by Hillery Priest Architects, and some beautiful marae on the Mahia Peninsula, among many other things. We'll post outtakes from some of these shoots over the coming weeks.

Sarah Maxey's house will be featured on TV3's Sunrise tomorrow morning at about 8.40pm. We'll also post the link to that footage once it's available online.

Architecture at Sunrise

TV3's Sunrise featured architect Guy Tarrant's own home in Auckland this morning. You can take a look at this link:

www.tv3.co.nz/sunrise

Click on 'latest video' and you'll see the link there (we seem to be having trouble pasting the link into this site). It's entitled "Take a peek into a home on a slope".

Patrick Reynolds on Public Address

Photographer and HOME New Zealand contributor Patrick Reynolds has a very eloquent rant about Auckland's urban planning woes on Public Address that is attracting plenty of comment. It's at this link if you'd like to check it out:

www.publicaddress.net/6418#post

One thing that jumped out at me in particular was this assertion of Patrick's:

"As a new world nation with lingering ideals of pioneering self-reliance we fancy the idea of building qua building. That is to say building as built, not thought. Built by proper men, the mythical 'good bloke', a type who now really only exists in beer advertisements, who can do anything, but of course would do nothing smartarse, which is to say: nothing smart".

This made me wonder if the architecture profession is sometimes guilty of underselling its own skills, or side-stepping open discussion of the intellectual rigour that is such a fundamental part of good architecture. I've often been surprised at how New Zealand architects, when discussing a building, so quickly fall into question-and-answer patterns relating to structure, the nuts and bolts of assembling a building rather than the thought process that went into the design. This is not to say that structure is not interesting, but it often seems like a roadbock in the way of a deeper discussion of a building's merits.

True, many architects also grasp at metaphors in a way that makes your eyes roll (partly because they often seem like self-conscious attempts to instill their buildings with some meaning), but there must still be a way to discuss architecture intelligently and approachably.

This is particularly relevant when you consider the sometimes-agonising coverage of the opening of the new Supreme Court in Wellington this week. Whether you admire the building or not, the media coverage made it clear that in general, we lack a vocabulary for articulating a clear response to new additions to our cityscape.

Sunrise

I'll be back on TV3's Sunrise this Friday continuing our series of tours of well-designed homes. This week, the camera crew is filming a house designed by architect Guy Tarrant in the Auckland suburb of Grey Lynn. Patrick Reynolds photographed it for the magazine back in 2005. It's a lovely example of how effective planning can make the most of what many would see as a far-too-difficult sloping back-section.


The home is predominantly north-facing and on one level, with one bedroom and a study located downstairs and opening onto a lawn. The living area in the image below is a single open-plan space that opens onto a terrace.

One of my favourite spaces in the house is the study, which is really a clever occupation of what in lesser hands would have been a simple corridor. You can also see in this photo how the upper and lower levels connect, via a timber-lined stairwell.

Tune into TV3 on Friday morning (I think I'll be on around 8.20am) for a full tour of the house. I'll also put up the weblink to the footage when it's available online.

A correction

Our apologies for this: on our December/January cover (and in the accompanying article), we incorrectly attributed the heart-shaped ceramic piece to Christine Thacker. The artist is actually Raewyn Atkinson.



You can see more of both Raewyn's and Christine's work at www.piecegallery.co.nz. Our apologies for the error.

Perry Davies

Good news from artist Perry Davies, who lives and works in the little Hawke's Bay hamlet of Ongaonga. Perry says there has been a rush on sales of his whimsical birdhouse sculptures and other works since he was featured in our December/January issue. Perry doesn't seem to have a website but you can easily find his telephone number in the White Pages if you're interested in commissioning him. The photograph is by Paul McCredie.

John Scott bach

One of my favourite houses in our current issue is the bach that the late John Scott designed for Bruce and Estelle Martin and their family near Hokitika (that's the model on Scott's original drawings in the image above). My parents live near Bruce and Estelle's house in Hawkes Bay, also designed by John Scott, and we often visited and bought pottery from them when I was a child. For me, John Scott's work has a magical combination of modesty and confidence, a quiet cleverness that is abundantly evident in the bach, which was photographed by Paul McCredie. Here's a view of the exterior:

And this is the living area upstairs:

This is a favourite shot of mine that we couldn't squeeze into the layout in the magazine. It has a beautiful stillness to it. It was taken on the ground floor of the bach, looking towards the stairwell.

Bruce and Estelle's son Craig Martin helped us a lot in producing our story about the bach. He also has an excellent website featuring many of John Scott's other works, which you should check out if you're interested. It is www.johnscott.net.nz. It's a fantastic resource for anyone curious about this hugely accomplished New Zealand architect.

Welcome back

Happy New Year everyone. Here at HOME New Zealand, we've been back since Monday, putting the finishing touches on our annual 'Art Houses' issue, which will be published in the first week of February. It's turning out to be an eclectic lineup of homes, from an art-filled (and very glamorous) Auckland penthouse to an amazing series of marae on the Mahia Peninsula. We'll post more information here once we get the mag off to the printers.

In this issue, we'll also be calling for entries to the 2010 Home of the Year award. This year we'll again be partnering with BMW to bring you the award issue in August, an issue that's always a highlight of our publishing calendar. Interested architects and homeowners will be able to find the entry form in the magazine.

What you can learn from Frank Lloyd Wright...

If you ask most people in this country to name a famous Architect, I have found that nine out of ten people will say 'Frank Lloyd Wright'. If you probe further and ask them to name a building by this famous Architect, you might get 'Guggenheim' but more often you will get a blank stare followed by 'I'm really not sure'. I was always curious how Frank Lloyd Wright became so famous without anyone really knowing much of his work. Practically every book store has a book about him on their 'SALE' shelves, yet beyond a few notable buildings, most people are generally clueless about his work. As Designers and Architects, we aspire to be acknowledged and compensated for our work. I believe that Frank can offer us a little insight into how to do a better job of it.

-'Well now that he's finished one building, he'll go write four books about it' - Frank Lloyd Wright talking about Le Corbusier

This quote illustrates several of Wright's successful attributes. First, he detested any Architect who was gaining fame during his reign. He referred to himself as 'the World's Greatest Architect' and lashed out at anyone who suggested otherwise. Secretly, he was happy that 'the International Style' was making it's way to America and often copied the ideas of his contemporaries to make them better. Publicly, he said that he hated Architects such as Mies Van der Rohe, Le Corbusier, and Walter Gropius, but privately, he studied their work and learned from them. In this way, he was constantly able to re-create himself professionally without anyone thinking he was a plagiarist. You could say that Apple uses this same technique. They don't always invent the technology that they use, but they find a way to improve it and make it their own. This is a very FLW trait.

Secondly, this quote talks about self promotion. Wright could very well be guilty of the same thing that he is accusing Corb of. During the depression, when there was no work, he decided to write an Autobiography and embellish many of the details to make it read more like a novel. Wright was a tireless self promoter, often doing TV and radio spots in addition to maintaining two studios and dozens of projects at a time. When he had no projects,he conjured up a program for apprentices to come study with 'The World's Greatest Architect' and rich kids paid handsomely to live and work on FLW's farm. While the curriculum was focused on Architecture, he also had them working the fields and building his house. Genius.

'Take care of the luxuries and the necessities will take care of themselves.'

This is truly counter-cultural. During times of crises, most people would probably make sure that they have the necessities. But not Frank. When his family couldn't pay their food bills, he went out and bought a grand piano on credit. He believed that the small stuff would take care of itself. He always maintained the appearance (through his cars, clothes, and residences) that he was doing quite well, and therefore attracted the types of Clients who would pay his bills and indulge his eccentricities. As Designers, we rely on attracting the kinds of Clients who will allow us to do our best work. To a great extent, appearances are important. So if you think you can't afford that great web site, or that extravagant ride, think again. Frank wouldn't hesitate.

'The next one'

When asked what was his favorite building or his greatest project, Frank would always say 'The next one'. This almost always ensured that he would stay on the radar because everyone would always be waiting to see what was next. As George Costanza would agree, you have to always leave them wanting more. As Designers, we often focus on what we've done as a barometer of how well we're doing. Maybe it's time to re-direct that focus on what is to come as way of getting people interested in our work. Frank would often dream of 'larger than life' projects that of course, would never get built, but they did get him attention. His designs for a mile high building or the ideal city are the stuff that museum exhibitions are still made of.

'Maybe we can show Government how to operate better as a result of better Architecture.'

Being the ego maniac that he was, Frank never believed that anything was beyond his grasp. I have written about this before, but it was never more true than in the life of Frank Lloyd Wright. He was the true Renaissance man. He enjoyed writing, music, art, architecture, cuisine, travel, culture, and he had an opinion about it all. He painted his own car Cherokee Red because at that time cars only came in black. He felt that he could do or improve upon anyone's work and he never took no for an answer. When building the Guggenheim, he stayed at the Plaza hotel and re-designed the suite to meet his needs. Can you imagine?

'Mr. Hotel Owner, I'm going to be staying here for a bit, so I'm going to bring in some construction crews to re-do my room while I'm here. That's OK, right?"

As a Designer, you have an opinion. A perspective. Use it. Madonna once wrote that most people don't get what they want because they don't say what they want. I'm not a Madonna fan, but I couldn't agree more. I think Frank would have agreed too.

So if you are into fame and success, perhaps you should take some cues from Frank Lloyd Wright. More than 50 years after his death, people are still talking about him and celebrating his work. Remember that every day is an opportunity to slam your competition, promote yourself, and address your adoring public. Just remember to exit on a high note and keep them wanting more.