Wellington Architectural Centre

The Architectural Centre Inc is a nonprofit organization in Wellington, New Zealand for architects and laypeople which offers lectures, site visits, tours and exhibitions.

It is a co-organiser of Wellington Architecture Week.

History of the Centre

The Centre was established in 1946 in Wellington, New Zealand. The Centre has been a key focus for architectural debate since this time. It ran the first architectural school in Wellington (1946-1956), and the first town planning school in New Zealand (1949-1956). It also ran the Centre Gallery (1953-1968), an early venue for exhibiting modern art, and published Design Review (1948-1954) - one of the first design-oriented journals in New Zealand. The Centre has also held many exhibitions, including: Te Aro Replanned (1947/48), Vertical Living/ Living in Cities (1954), 196X (1960), Harbour Front (1971), Unbuilt Wellington (1987) Home made Home (1991), Reclaiming (Northern Gateway Exhibition) (1999), and the Manifesto exhibition (2006). It has lobbied the city council about issues to do with Wellington's built environment and run competitions, such as the annual 20under40 24 hour ideas competition, which began in 1990. Recently, the Arch Centre published an architectural manifesto (2006) and has been a partner in the organisation of Wellington Architectural Week.

Key members of the Wellington Architectural Centre have included: Bill Alington, Ian Athfield, James Albert Beard (1924-), Sandy Beath, Jock Beere (1913-2001), John Cox (1902-1984), Deb Cranko, Helmut Einhorn (1911-1988), Charles Fearnley, Al Gabites, Julia Gatley, Stephen McDougall, Christina Mackay, Lew Martin (1925-), Alan Minty, Gordon Moller, Geoff Nees (1923-1999), Tim Nees, Fred Newman/Friedrich Neumann (1900-1964), Gerald Parsonson, Maurice Patience (d. 1987), Ernst Plischke, George Porter (1921-1998), Ian Reynolds (1922-2005), Bill Sutch, Bill Toomath, Anthony Treadwell, Paul Walker, Roger Walker, Allan Wild and Derek Wilson (1922-).

Membership

Membership is about 150, and a regular newsletter is published.

References

Architectural Centre (N.Z.) "Demonstration House" (Wellington, [N.Z.] : Architectural Centre, [195-?] )

Architectural Centre (Wellington, N.Z.) "Wgtn 196X: city development" ( [Wellington, N.Z. : Architectural Centre, 1961] )

Architectural Centre "Wellington’s northern gateway: an exhibition of the rail-yards, ports of Wellington and associated land by the Architectural Centre: November 1999." (Wellington, N.Z. : Architectural Centre, 1999)

"Architectural Centre Aims at High Ideals" "The Dominion" (Wednesday 2 April 1947) p. 6.

"Architectural Centre's "Ideal" House" "Building Progress" (March 1949) p. 34.

Beard, James Albert, 1924- "Social concern, building and the Architectural Centre, Wellington" (Wellington [N.Z.] : New Zealand Heritage and Conservation Trust and Wellington Heritage and Conservation Trust, [1997] )

"Design review" ( [Wellington, N.Z.] : Architectural Centre, 1948)

Gatley, Julia "A Contemporary Dwelling: The Demonstration House" "Zeal and Crusade: the modern movement in Wellington" ed John Wilson (Christchurch: Te Waihora Press, c1996) pp. 88-95.

"Homes Without Sprawl – An Exhibition about Houses and gardens prepared by the Architectural Centre" "Home & Building" (1 August 1958) v. XXI, n. 3, pp. 33-37.

Marriage, Guy "Doing each other's thing" "Architecture New Zealand" (Jan/Feb 2005) n. 1, pp. 78-79.

Walker, Paul "Order from Chaos: Replanning Te Aro" "Zeal and Crusade: the modern movement in Wellington" ed John Wilson (Christchurch: Te Waihora Press, c1996) pp. 79-87.

"What is 'the Architectural Centre'?" "Design Review" (Apr/May 1949) v. 1, n. 6, pp. 17-18.

External links

* [http://www.architecture.org.nz Wellington Architectural Centre. Official site.]
* [http://www.city-gallery.org.nz/mainsite/CuttingsFromtheCentre.html City Gallery Wellington - Cuttings from the Centre] exhibition, 1996
* [http://www.eventfinder.co.nz/event/view/id/2725.html Eventfinder: Wellington Architecture Week]

ee also

*SAHANZ Society of Architectural Historians
*Auckland Architecture Association or [http://www.aaa.org.nz/| weblink]
*The [http://www.architecturecentre.net/| Architecture Centre Network]
*The New Zealand Historic Places Trust or [http://www.historic.org.nz/| weblink]