Tāmaki’s iteration of the Aotearoa Festival of Architecture continues to dish up the discourse. If last week left me with a brightened optimism and renewed faith in the power of design overseas, two of the events I attended this week brought that optimism home to our shores. Alongside that, a drawing workshop and a networking evening thickened the soup — this festival isn’t all about lectures (though we all know architects do love to talk — not that I’m complaining).

My Monday started with a rather frazzled bus ride (the most reliable thing about the 20 route is its insouciance towards its timetable) to hear a lecture by Severin Soder, Nick Howcroft and Jama Kake, discussing the transformation of Avondale’s Highbury Triangle with a revolutionary project (thanks to festival generosity, I also ate my bodyweight in salmon).

Soder, a principal at Architectus, drew our attention to an article published by Viva on September 21; promoted with the tagline “can you have high-density housing and make it look good?” To this, Soder riffs: “can we just have high density housing that is good?” Soder walked us through Community Lane, Kāinga Ora’s densest development to date. There is much to marvel at here: 90% of waste diverted from landfill (materials sold locally or sent to Tonga for cyclone recovery), thoughtful stormwater design, considered communal spaces, innovative typologies (like 1.5-bedroom homes — in case carers need to stay overnight). 236 homes replaced 45 on this plot of land, and it is density done well. I particularly enjoyed the images of the model Architectus produced to support community involvement: Soder emphasised that the architectural model remains one of the best ways to communicate with those not versed in the esoteric language of detailed documentation.

Nick Howcroft, Director – Delivery Transition at Kāinga Ora, presented the capital-p Property thinking that underpinned the project. A core idea: the notion that a project like this must be designed to withstand the to-fro of government colours, and a development that encourages and promotes aging in place. Most interestingly, this included some cross-boundary collaboration with Ockham Residential, whose neighbouring Aroha development shared cranes and shares a vehicle crossing with Community Lane. This kind of helping hand sets a positive precedent for a city needing to densify quick-smart.

Jama Kake, Operations Manager at Kāinga Ora, elaborated on the many operational firsts in the scheme: a staged handover (preventing overwhelming the site with moving trucks), wraparound on-site support, daily ground-floor activations, and onboarding for tenants unfamiliar with high(ish)-rise living. Against the backdrop of Auckland Council’s September 24 vote to endorse Plan Change 120 (if you listen closely, you can hear Chris Bishop sighing in relief), I imagine many isthmus-dwellers might benefit from a similar didactic onboarding.

Tuesday marked a refreshing pivot from the lectures. My hands — still cramping from all the note-taking — did not get a break, however, as Arno Pieters walked us through a sold-out drawing workshop in Buchan Studio’s offices in Britomart’s Hayman-Kronfeld buildings (caringly restored by Peddlethorp and opened up in last festival’s architecture tours). Pieters, a senior associate at Buchan, has a finely honed drawing practice (which you can explore on his Instagram account). The workshop covered some basic drawing technique exercises — lots of straight lines, then lots of sinuous lines. We learnt to rebut the claim that architects can’t draw trees, and we practiced perspective under Pieters’ guiding hand. The number of slightly confused faces in the room did leave me wondering whether the profession and schools today place enough of an emphasis on architectural hand drawing skills: not once in my six years of architecture school was I required to hand-draw a perspective! We all know the value of experimenting with drawing (Objectspace’s recent Rendered Futures exhibition has kept it fresh in our minds), and we all know specifically that hand drawing is critically important to practice. If you’re not reading this surreptitiously at your desk at work, dust off the old sketchbook and practice your construction lines!

Wednesday evening’s event is something of an imposter in this recap — Shane Brealey of Simplicity Living’s Fast Forward lecture was not technically a part of the Festival, but it happened to already be in my calendar. Simplicity Living’s model is rather patriotic, taking Simplicity’s KiwiSaver fund and reinvesting it right here in Aotearoa. Brealey walked us through some of the construction innovations that bolster the viability of Simplicity Living’s Build-To-Rent model (still relatively novel here). The organisation seems built on a philosophy of giving back: warm and dry housing to its tenants, increasing dividends to investors, and openly sharing their IP to allow others to do the same. Brealey’s punctilious, number-oriented nature seems to be the driver behind the model’s success. Simplicity Living buildings are architecturally interesting too. According to their own calculations, on a 150-year time scale (the self-reported design life of a Simplicity Living scheme), their low-carbon concrete outperforms structural mass timber, and their regular palette of brick is a response to the human appreciation for that slight textural variation that is so easy on the eyes. Simplicity buildings are fantastic fabric buildings: they are nice to look at and live in, and don’t scream for attention — that can be left to the Skytowers and Beehives of the world¹. The lecture certainly fits the emerging theme of my festival journey: good design begets good design.

Thursday wrapped up with a festival staple: Women in Urbanism and Architecture + Women’s collaborative Weaving Connections. Networking is an important skill, and having an opportunity to hone it an environment geared towards women (who, as we all know, have systemically been awarded the short end of the stick by the discipline) represents a better side of our profession. Weaving Connections aims to do what it says on the box: connect people, facilitate discussion or mentorship, and (maybe most importantly) to talk about architecture outside of work (after, we are all here because we love it, right?). This year was no different (the venue, COVID induced construction sector cutbacks, and yarns about density in Auckland have become conversational mainstays).

The Auckland Branch of Te Kāhui Whaihanga have kept us busy this week indeed! Even with this longlist of events, I have experienced FOMO — Open Studios have always been a highlight of my festival dance card, and I regretfully missed A+W’s Wednesday screening of City Dreamers. But I have been well-fed; plied with discussions, drawings, drinks and dreams. Still to come: the two events that seem to be (for me at least) the crescendo we are rising towards: the Great Debate (making a comeback after its roaring success last year) and Asia Kiwi Architects’ two-day exhibition: Asia, Aotearoa, and the Architecture of Crisis. These events look to be the jewels in the crown of an already scintillating schedule — and you will hear my thoughts on them soon. Until then, mā te wā.

References 

^{1. Frederick, Matthew. 101 Things I Learned in Architecture School. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press. Page 89.}