Christchurch Art Gallery, 7 March – 14 June 2009.

Miles: a life in architecture will reveal Sir Miles’s contribution to modernist architecture as well as his success as a watercolourist and gardener.

Miles also turns 80 during the exhibition. Happy birthday Sir.

…continue reading Miles: a life in architecture

“Before he achieved worldwide fame as an actor, Sam Neill directed this documentary for the National Film Unit about lively New Zealand architect Ian Athfield. It examines the philosophy, achievements and frustrations of one of this country’s most innovative architects,

…continue reading Architect Athfield. 1977 Documentary Film.

Mr Howden knew Miles’ dad at Pyne Gould Guinness and asked Warren Senior whether he knew any aspiring young architects. He did, and the house was built in 1957. Set in a beautiful garden overlooking the bay at Port Levy, the house is lived in by the original owner’s son and his wife.

…continue reading 45 Richfield Rd. JH Howden House. Warren & Mahoney.

Another very early Warren and Mahoney house in a similar vain to the flat-roofed Uren House. Designed by Miles for friend and Structural Engineer Ian Wilson during the building of the Dorset St Flats and built in 1960.

…continue reading 110 Hunstbury Ave. I G B Wilson House. Miles Warren.

This Ian Athfield 1968 design is a rare Christchurch example of his residential work. Before Athfield came to prominence in Wellington, he’d spent time under the tutelage of Miles Warren and the influence in this early work is obvious.

…continue reading 35a St Martins Rd. Jones House. Ian Athfield.

In a 1966 article on Warren & Mahoney’s work in the British journal Architectural Design, Norman Sheppard wrote of Christchurch: “This city, the most conservative in a fairly conservative country, has in its recent public and domestic buildings shown a direction which, if pursued and developed should make it a concrete example of what current planning and design theories propound.”

…continue reading Warren & Mahoney.