LOST?

The Gonville Centre for Urban Research is collaborating with the Architectural Centre on a project to develop a national architectural archive for Aotearoa New Zealand. Members of the profession have been sent a scoping survey and a small number of case studies involving retired architects, current practices and architectural practitioners are under way.

The documentary record of Aotearoa New Zealand’s architectural history is widely dispersed. A portion is held by public collections in libraries, archives and museums. Significant quantities are still with architects, their practices and their families. Important people still hold key stories and traditions. The rest is missing — feared lost.

The Architectural Centre has developed a proposal for an urgent response to these problems. Their summary includes the following:


Archive Proposal

After more than a thousand years of building in this country there is no dedicated repository for drawings and plans, photographs, books, records or oral histories to record the results. Years of discussion and debate have not advanced the concept very far. There is some consensus that what is needed is a network of architectural archives to preserve vital resources for future generations of builders, designers, writers and planners, but the problems persist.

The Architectural Centre, with more than 75 years of advocacy and achievement in the sector, is uniquely placed to address those needs. It is proposing to establish a new architectural archive, with a national scope and a commitment to connecting and enhancing other.

The Architectural Centre has a far-reaching goal for its work:


to improve Aotearoa New Zealand’s environment by
increasing understanding of and support for architecture
and urban design


In launching this initiative, the Centre has identified two priorities:


to create an accessible archive network of drawings, photographs, books
and documents which preserve and illustrate the development of architecture and
design in Aotearoa New Zealand;

to undertake and support research, publishing and
public exhibitions which explore architecture and design collections.


The Architectural Centre

In 1946, just as the Group was being established in Auckland, Wellington established the Architectural Centre. Members of both were young and idealistic, and they shared common beliefs - in the transformative potential of modern architecture, in need for urban development to be carefully controlled, in the desirability of planning for a better future. The Group survived for just over a decade while the Centre still exists...
Vertical Living: the Architectural Centre and the remaking of Wellington (2014), Julia Gatley and Paul Walker (eds)

Founded mainly by Ministry of Works architects, early committee members included Gordon Wilson, George Porter, Jim Beard, Bill Toomath, Cedric Firth, F. H. Newman and Bill Alington. The Centre supported the studies of architectural students while providing a dynamic environment for architects to explore Modern architecture and urbanism.

The Centre's first projects included Te Aro Replanned, exhibited in 1948, and the Demonstration House, competed in 1950. The publication documenting this latter project states: "the general aim of the Centre... is to assert and maintain the value of design as an element in living, for the individual and the community." Though times have changed, this is still the principle that underpins Centre activities.

The Centre has supported many activities including the Centre Gallery (c.1953-1968), the Design Review magazine (1948–1954), OffCentre and Broadsheet news fliers, Architecture Week (2002-6), 20Under40 competitions (1993-2010), and exhibitions in conjunction with the City Gallery such as 'Unbuilt Wellington' (1989).

It has hosted public talks and visiting international architects. Always vocal about development and demolition plans in Wellington, in the 1970s the Centre shifted firmly into conservation advocacy and protest. The Centre organised responses to urban motorway design, the re-organisation of the waterfront and civic centre, and the loss of public housing.

Contact Me