Peter Parkes

Contributor Profile

Born in Opotiki in 1955 to a Glaswegian mother and Kiwi livestock agent father, Peter has lived in numerous rural towns and is a ‘rural boy’ at heart. Schooled mainly at Taupo Nui-a Tia College, he gave up Saturday morning sports and took private art lessons instead due to a foot deformity. He developed an obsession with Mondrian and geometrical balance, and decided on a career in architecture. In 1976, he attended Auckland University SOA as a MOW bursar and gained a B.Arch (hons) and final year top prize. Whilst working in MWD Napier for 1.5 years, the Government Architect suggested he do a Ph.D. and he was granted a scholarship to study overseas at UWIST in Cardiff with Prof. Alan Lipman as supervisor and awarded a Doctorate in 1986. His thesis was a critique of Post-Modern Architecture Theory, centred on meaning and undertaken from a Cultural Studies perspective. Architecture was viewed as cultural production. On returning to New Zealand, Peter took up role as Research Architect for MWD head office and was also involved in a design team for a new Parliamentary Service Building at the rear of Parliament in Wellington (unbuilt). He designed and built his own house in Karori. He was with Opus (the privatized MWD) until 2000, then started a sole practice as Strategic Architecture. Amongst other considerations, the transformation from public service to profit maker for Malaysian Royalty (owners of Opus) was a step too far. His design career centered on public buildings and campuses in Education and Health, Justice, Fire Service, Government Offices, Libraries and some private homes. He has held Masters thesis supervision roles at VUW and a Doctorate examination in SA. He is deeply committed to architecture design as a socially responsive and responsible public service and disdainful of design as a commodity or elite commercial profit-making enterprise.