Patterson: Houses of Aotearoa

by Andrew Patterson, Thames & Hudson

The stunning houses of Kiwi architectural practice Patterson Associates are, at last, being celebrated in book form, along with a couple of clubhouses sneaked in among them. This sumptuous coffee-table-style book reads like a journey through the New Zealand landscape. It’s a bit like one of those stunning large-format publications about our beautiful country that you might find in a tourist shop – but, instead, this is about architecture.

The book starts with a foreword by Herbert Ypma, who wrote the Hip Hotels series of books, followed by Andrew Patterson talking about his early influences, then the featured houses in various shapes, forms and locations around New Zealand, illustrated with beautiful photography, plan drawings and hand-drawn sketches. Inserted between the projects are thematic writings by architects within Patterson Associates about its key influences and philosophies, such as ‘Thinking in Patterns’ and ‘The Search for Beauty’.

This is one of the first books by a major international architectural publishing company which is solely about one Kiwi architectural firm and is being sold worldwide – but it surely paves the way for more to come. And the world is interested in what we have to offer. The strength of New Zealand’s residential design is not only about the incredible landscapes to which the houses respond but, also, about an emerging architectural identity for what is a relatively new country that has, until recent times, largely been made up of imported architectural styles.

– Justine Harvey

Resident Dog

by Nicole England, Thames & Hudson

Australian photographer Nicole England noticed something interesting about some of the shoots she was doing in architecturally designed homes around her home country: there were dogs. The home-owner’s pup would often be lying on the couch in the beautifully appointed living room or trotting past, with toenails tapping the floor of the intricately tiled bathroom, seemingly oblivious to its – often award-winning – surroundings.

She saw that, when the mutt was in the shot, something changed. The picture now had a sense of warmth and friendliness: a completely unselfconscious sense of the living that goes on in the otherwise static rooms.

This book brings all those photographs together, capturing both the breadth of England’s work and the splendour of the homes she has had the pleasure of shooting. Also – and this will be a plus for any dog lover – the book illustrates the sheer range of different dogs that live in these homes. Through their placement in the shots, which is almost all of their own choosing, we can see their personalities, their laziness or boisterousness, and the different ways in which they exist within the walls of these beautiful buildings.

– Camille Khouri

This article first appeared in Houses magazine.

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