Peter Bartlett died peacefully in Devonport on 21 December 2019, surrounded by his wife, Margaret, their close family and many friends. A requiem mass a week later was attended by a who’s who of Auckland architects and planners.

Professor of Design at the University of Auckland between 1977 and 1993, Peter led the often-rumbustious design studio scene with a style of quiet authority and dignity. 

Ken Davis called him the ‘glue’ that held the various factions together and, if he hadn’t been there, the School might well have pulled itself completely apart.

After leaving Auckland Grammar School, Peter undertook the BArch degree between 1947 and 1952. He studied under Dick Toy, Peter Middleton and Vernon Brown but he didn’t graduate until 1957 because, immediately after submitting his thesis, he took up a French Study Bursary in Paris. His BArch thesis was on the subject of urban housing, which he was able to put to immediate effect in the post-war reconstruction in France.

Between 1953 and 1957 Peter and Margaret travelled extensively in Europe – France, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Austria and Germany. Two children, Nicolas and Louis, were born during this time. While in Paris, Peter worked under Maurice Cammas, designing social housing projects for the commune of Aubervilliers. He also studied housing forms with CIAM under Bodiansky, Candilis and Woods of ATBAT (later to become Team 10). He conducted intensive research into residential building types, basic living unit plans and their relationships to community facilities and urban design.

Also while in Paris, he gained a thorough insight into the successful and the less-successful teaching methods of L’École des Beaux-Arts.

Returning to Auckland in 1957, Peter set up an award-winning architectural practice. Highlights included: a first prize in the NZIA House Design Competition in 1958; the NZIA Medal Award [domestic design] for the Howard J Newcombe House in Parnell in 1969; and the Auckland Grammar School Centennial Theatre Centre, 1965–1969 (with Ian George), which was awarded the NZIA Regional Medal [non-domestic design] in 1974 and a National Gold Medal in 1975. In 1998, Peter received an NZIA award for the Bartlett family dwelling at Lake Tarawera and, in 2013, he was awarded the NZIA Enduring Architecture Award for the Newcombe House.

Mike Austin said that Peter brought a sense of French style and Corbusian intelligence back with him from Europe – the award-winning Glen Innes House was just the sort of house design that younger architects were looking for at that time. Mid-century New Zealand was feeling marginalised and somewhat stultified by isolation.

Professor Toy invited Peter to join the staff of Auckland University in 1964, at first to teach History and Theory on a sessional basis. After that, he was continuously involved with the School and eventually appointed Professor of Design in 1977, completing his doctoral thesis the next year.

In his time as Professor of Design, Peter oversaw a difficult transition and refocusing of concerns towards a more confident and genuinely New Zealand architecture. Internationalism and regional modernism had only ever served to reinforce our sense of being less than the best – the vernacular carried a connotation of enslavement and oppression – and, to some extent, the country remains oppressed to this day by these traditions that lie in our colonial past. But, increasingly, under Peter’s stewardship, students were seeing these flaws, contradictions and cultural tensions as architectural opportunities. Slowly, the School’s reputation as a centre for design excellence grew.

In 1990, Peter was invited to present the work of the School at the fifth Architectural Biennale, which was to take place the next year in Venice. An exhibition was duly prepared and mounted alongside contributions from more than 40 other schools around the world. The exhibition was a stunning success for the Auckland school. An international jury (Gardella, Hollein, Isozaki, Meier and Purini) awarded it first prize and declared it clearly the “best in show”. This award boosted the School’s standing both internationally and with the local profession. Professor Bob Ellis wrote to Peter: “It is good to see the more creative side of the university’s activities receiving international recognition and praise!”

Peter retired in 1993. He continued to be active in the NZIA. From 2003 to 2005, he directed the New Zealand round of the UIA/NZIA ‘Celebration of Cities’ competition and consultation. He was a standing member of the Auckland Education Committee and chairman of the CPD (Continuing Professional Development) committee. He also remained active in the affairs of the School, performing an invaluable role as external examiner for the MArch (Prof) degree.