Table of contents for Urbis Aug/Sep 2018 in Urbis

Here’s to the thinkers and the makers, to the solution-finders and the beautifiers. Here’s to the style-makers and those who appreciate beauty in its many guises. To the architects, and industrial and interior designers, to the purveyors and retailers of magnificent or life-improving objects. To our advertisers, agencies, PR gurus, writers and photographers, to the designers, proofreaders and printers. Here’s to the subscription managers, the distributors, and the retailers and storeowners who have given Urbis a space in their locales. Here’s to the people who have invited us into their homes, to those who have shared their stories and gifted us their time. To those who rotate our artworks, clean our offices and deliver our mail. Twenty years is but an instant in New Zealand’s rich design and publishing history…

BEYOND THE STATE: NEW ZEALAND STATE HOUSES FROM MODEST TO MODERN Bill McKay, Andrea Stevens, Simon Devitt, Penguin NZ, 2014 There have been some excellent books on local building types – Villa (2012) and Bungalow (2014) come to mind – and all are must-have books but Beyond the State propelled one of New Zealand’s best critical eyes and consummate wordsmiths, Bill McKay, into his first substantial book. Supported by Stevens and Devitt, McKay examined a 20th-century housing stock that far too many New Zealanders still fail to see as anything more than P-labs and gang houses and, in doing so, overlook one of our greatest architectural assets. THE VILLA AT THE END OF THE EMPIRE/DECLINE & FALL ON SAVAGE STREET Fiona Farrell, Penguin Random House New Zealand, 2015 and 2017 New Zealand…

For one reason or another, Hamilton City’s main drag has always turned a cold shoulder to the central artery and original avenue of commerce of the city: the Waikato River. But attitudes are changing, along with the outlook of the city centre. The recent redevelopment of the Riverbank Arcade – a large main-street property that had sat empty for 24 years – into The Riverbank Lane and an adjacent car park into an open-air, terraced amphitheatre that leads to the water (called Victoria on the River) has finally achieved unity between river and city. The Lane is host to a number of boutique retail shops, a gallery and some eateries as well as office spaces. Residing in one of these spaces is Edwards White Architects, the firm that worked on…

WHILE ONLY A HANDFUL of minutes from Wanaka, the vast high country farm where this cabin is located feels deliciously remote. The owners of the property wanted a bolt-hole that could be used as accommodation for family and friends wanting to experience station life and the mountain views that surround the site. The shed was originally designed by the station’s manager (who was an architect in a previous life) so its existing form was ripe for development into an inhabitable space. Architect Ken Crosson didn’t touch the ply interior walls but created an insertion within the space using horizontal slatted cedar. “We exposed the structure so that you can see the joists of the floor above from the living and kitchen areas below. We created a seat at the end…

HATHERLIE HAS A DISTINCTIVE presence, perched at the top of a hill in Fitzroy North, Melbourne. The two-storeyed terrace on a double-width block is set back from the street and half concealed by upright pencil pine trees. With polychromatic brickwork and cast-iron lacework, Hatherlie is formal, vertical and contained at the front but a new extension designed by Andrew Simpson Architects (ASA) sees spaces unfold to become informal, horizontal and expansive at the rear. Hatherlie is home to a family of three who have always had an interest in the Boom Style terrace built in 1888. Ornately detailed and highly picturesque, Boom Style architecture was unique to Melbourne in the late 19th-century, when the city was fuelled by the prosperity of the gold rush and an influx of migration. The…

SHARON STEPHENSON Sharon writes for a range of magazines and newspapers from her Wellington home. She spent five years in London where she worked for the BBC but, for now, she’s happy to be home. Sharon wrote the Inside Story (page 59). How long have you been contributing to Urbis and what was your first story published there? Since January 2013 and my first story was about colourful office spaces – from Denmark to Auckland. What has been the assignment that has stuck in your mind during that time? The travel stories I did from Vancouver, Hong Kong and Dubai. They weren’t straight travelogues, but involved meeting creatives in the respective regions, including expat Kiwis who now called those places home. It was fascinating to to see how location had…

Penny Martin will be speaking at Semi-Permanent, Auckland on Saturday, 10 August, 2018. For tickets and information on the event see semipermanent.com GREAT EXPECTATIONS Charles Dickens, 1860 At secondary school, our history teacher was a bit of a sporting star; she umpired women’s hockey at the Seoul Olympics in 1988 and we schoolchildren were big fans. Miss Robertson’s rendition of 19th-century social history was hugely inspiring to me – I must have studied all those prison reforms and voting rights for three or four years. And Great Expectations was the perfect complement to all that. I find its “rags to riches to rags” story arc – where someone becomes greedy and delusional and then squanders all their opportunities – really compelling. Doctor Faustus, all those Jacobean morality plays – I…

“I GET TO THINK, SKETCH AND TALK ABOUT SHOES ALL DAY. I COULDN’T THINK OF A BETTER THING TO DO!” OBSESSION comes naturally to Lee Gibson. First, there was architecture, then design, then teaching and, finally, sneakers. It’s that single-minded focus which has taken the 41-year-old from Wairoa to New York and, for the last five years, to Portland where he holds the coveted title of Design Lead Footwear for Nike Men’s Sportswear. “I help create streetwear, including retro and modern sneaker designs,” says Gibson, who lives with his wife, Kiwi jewellery designer Karie Higgins, in a Portland apartment they recently bought. “I’ve also worked with performance running and basketball on future design innovation, which involves collaborating with athletes. I get to think, sketch and talk about shoes all day.…

LOCATION DETROIT, USA DESIGNER DASH MARSHALL PHOTOGRAPHER MARK WICKENS RESTORING THE HEART OF THE HOME While the couple loved its typically modernist features – like the huge floor-to-ceiling windows giving all the residents access to the light, air and views – the kitchen felt outdated. “Conceptually, it wasn’t the heart of the home,” says Boyer. “People in the 1960s didn’t have the same ideas about socialising that we have today.” THE CHARM IS IN THE DETAILS The architect replaced the parquet floor (a late addition) with slate tiles throughout, as slate is a material more consistent with early-modernist thinking. He chose a visually striking, dark-green honed marble with which to line the kitchen. Though not original to this townhouse, the marble matches a stone often used by Mies in his…

ART IS THE DRIVER behind this highly detailed and shining new home in the Christchurch suburb of Merivale. Built to replace an historic double-storeyed villa demolished after the Canterbury earthquakes, the new house was seen as an opportunity to create a building that reflected the owners’ love of art and provided plenty of space for the display of some highly significant artworks. It was also a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for up-and-coming Christchurch architect Phil Redmond to design a building that illustrates his penchant for fine detail and expresses his admiration for the work of some key artists and architects. The house is formed out of a central, double-height gallery, sandwiched between two pavilions clad in rough, local aggregate: a material that, along with the gable forms, harks back to Christchurch’s colonial…