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In the early nineteenth century London society had the opportunity to view large panoramas of the Australasian settlements of Sydney (1828–30), Hobart Town (1831), and the Bay of Islands, N...

Drawing from his travels through Britain and Europe, and mindful of the work of other theorists and designers, Robert Pemberton proposed a model settlement based upon a new understanding of...

In its various professional manifestations between 1946 and 1968, New Zealand's Group Architects sought to create an indigenous architecture: of New Zealand, suited to the needs of its people, and under a banner that “overseas solutions will not do.” Despite this pronouncement, from the 1950s commentators have cited Japanese, Scandinavian and American influence on the Group's output. In the late 1970s one of the early Group members, Allan Wild, belatedly acknowledged the impact of the Californian architect, Gordon Drake, and two decades later he extended his list to include leading world architects of the twentieth century and others from Scandinavia and California. These influences have recently been discussed, notably in the extensive study of the Group where Julia Gatley, Bill McKay and Andrew Barrie, in particular, have challenged a once taken-for-granted argument for a truly local architecture. This paper continues this investigation, focussing in particular on claims for an indigenous New Zealand bu...

Appreciation of seismicity is fundamental to New Zealand's architectural development. Reports of the earthquakes of 1848 and 1855, in particular, help determine how this condition shaped the colony's architectural development. Despite initial official reluctance to acknowledge this hazard, reports of the disasters spread. The superior performance of wooden buildings under seismic loading meant that, by the late 1850s, timber was becoming understood internationally as the prudent building material choice in New Zealand. Although early colonists' ideas regarding the design of their settlements shifted, few connected seismic condition with wider contemporary aesthetic argument. Despite the prevalence of earthquakes, and because of the threat of fire, desire for substantial masonry buildings remained. This encouraged the colony's architects and engineers to develop boldly innovative technical solutions. These innovations, which sometimes drew upon work abroad, foreshadowed ground-breaking research and practice by the country's leading seismic designers and specialists in the 20th century.

Supporting their argument for a distinctive pragmatic tradition, post-war writers on architecture in New Zealand have frequently cited a photograph of a man sitting alone on the verandah of a hut. This image of H. P. Knutzen at the timber milling settlement of Piha near Auckland (c. 1916) is referred to as the 'man alone image' and has come to represent an architectural origin. Comparing the circumstances of this photograph and the history of its subject with the interpretations of the last half-century highlights writers' mythmaking. It reveals a modernist, nationalist, masculine, individualistic agenda that gives authority to a modest timber tradition and serves to legitimate the Pakeha (the New Zealand European) as settler in the new land.

(1999). The Cringe Commences: Nineteenth Century Reviews of Pakeha Architecture. Fabrications: Vol. 9, No. 1, pp. 68-80.