Taking notes from Japan
The New Zealand government’s Minister of Housing, Chris Bishop, has very publicly professed admiration for the Japanese urban planning system. Matthew Paetz looks at what might be lost in translation.
Meet your 2026 Interior Awards jury
Providing extensive experience across a wide range of markets and disciplines, including residential, hospitality, commercial, civic and education, meet this year’s Interior Awards jury.
Burn the house down
Editor of Architecture NZ Chris Barton discusses a bonkers idea about ownership of New Zealand’s social housing assets.
Holding memories
Guy Marriage navigates the $290-million Te Rua Archives New Zealand in Wellington, the magnificently sculpted, base isolated and airtight storehouse of our country’s culture.
Burn the house down
Editor of Architecture NZ Chris Barton discusses a bonkers idea about ownership of New Zealand’s social housing assets.
News
Cohousing + passive housing at Peachgrove East
A new development in the Waikato, designed by Smith Architects in collaboration with Greenbridge, promises to make home ownership possible with low deposits and sustainable payments.
2026 Outlook: Stabilisation arrives, but architects face harder feasibility tests
New Zealand’s construction pipeline is entering 2026 with its first signs of stability in two years.
Making Menopause Work
Making Menopause Work by the Ministry for Women is a free, flexible and practical guide for workplaces to support their people through peri/menopause.
Entries open for the 2026 Resene Total Colour Awards
The most colourful awards programme returns for 2026, and there is over $15,000 in prizes to be won. Entries are open now and must be submitted by 19 December 2025.
Projects
Holding memories
Guy Marriage navigates the $290-million Te Rua Archives New Zealand in Wellington, the magnificently sculpted, base isolated and airtight storehouse of our country’s culture.
Houses Revisited: Karekare House
An existing cottage has been transformed into a modern home filled with stunning views on the Kapiti Coast. First published in 2018.
Making shadows
Jeremy Smith talks to Lynda Simmons about her practice of slow architecture, embodied in two pavilion additions at Onetangi, Waiheke Island.
Review
Itinerary City Guide: Porirua
In this Itinerary, supported by Dulux Colours of New Zealand, Andrew Barrie and Maya Haydock highlight 14 Porirua buildings.
Book:Olveston: Portrait of a home
Graeme Burgess discusses the book Olveston: Portrait of a home, a collaboration between photographer Jane Ussher and writer John Walsh.
From humble beginnings
Mark Leong reflects on Francis Kéré’s recent Futuna lecture series in Aotearoa and the ways in which simplicity, innovation and participation underpin his design philosophy.
Practice
After the rain: Preserving timber
In the third of a six-part series, Andrew Barrie examines the recovery and re-use of native timber and its implications for our wider circular economy.
Conversation creates
In the latest instalment of Practice in Profile, supported by Resene, Dave Morgan reflects on 85 years of architecture, spatial design and virtual reality at CPRW, and the new direction the studio is embracing.
Designing out waste: A design-led opportunity for architects
Every design decision can minimise waste, reduce costs and advance circularity in the built environment.
Awards
Meet your 2026 Interior Awards jury
Providing extensive experience across a wide range of markets and disciplines, including residential, hospitality, commercial, civic and education, meet this year’s Interior Awards jury.
Reset wins international award for Waitematā Harbour Crossings designs
Urban design studio Reset has received the International Federation of Landscape Architects – Asia Pacific Region (IFLA-APR) Award of Excellence for its Waitematā Harbour Crossings proposal.
People
On storage and stuff
Anthony Vile discusses spatial minimums, consumerism and life in medium-density housing.
Burn the house down
Editor of Architecture NZ Chris Barton discusses a bonkers idea about ownership of New Zealand’s social housing assets.
Colour Collab: Karla Devine
In this instalment of the Colour Collab series brought to you by Resene, founder of House Party Interiors, Karla Devine discusses risk-taking, joy and Mattonelle Margherita.
Vale: Frank Gehry, Pritzker Prize-winning architect, dies aged 96
Canadian-born American architect Frank Gehry, world-famous for his innovative and daring designs, has passed away aged 96.