Tony Watkins

Photos from the wedding of Fiona and Eugene are at
www.tony-watkins.com/content/view/184/77/
Photos from the wedding of Rossella and Nicholas are at
www.tony-watkins.com/content/view/208/77/
Photos from the wedding of Charlotte and James are at
www.tony-watkins.com/content/view/183/77/
Photos from Piglet's 11th birthday party are at
www.tony-watkins.com/content/view/191/109/
Some photos from the last Green Architecture Course can be found at
www.tony-watkins.com/content/view/194/31/
All non-architects will enjoy the David Spero photographs at
www.tony-watkins.com/content/view//212/83/

At long last "The Human House" is now available as a book. This book gathers together all the articles which originally appeared in the Auckland Star along with a Prologue and an Epilogue. It is available for $39.97 from either John Balasoglou or Parsons Bookshop. If you prefer it is also available directly from the publisher through this web site, for $40 including packing and postage. You will find a review at www.tony-watkins.com/content/view/486/20/

Copies of "Piglet the Great of Karaka Bay" are still available. 

I have always liked the form of the Letter to the Editor. A good letter should be like a haiku, short and yet saying much more than is obvious at first.

Two recent letters published in the Herald are at www.tony-watkins.com/content/view/322/20/
on the new weak-kneed ACC logo, and at www.tony-watkins.com/content/view/345/20/
on the demolition of the Edmiston Wing of the Art Gallery.

Three recent letters published in the East and Bays Courier are at www.tony-watkins.com/content/view/393/20/
arguing for a total ban on all dogs at all times at all Auckland beaches. Sydney adopted this policy long ago to make beaches safe places for people.

An article published in Cross Section put the case for the NZIA to sign up to the Earth Charter. You will find it at www.tony-watkins.com/content/view/352/20/
It hit the mark and on 21 May 2008 the NZIA Council resolved to sign up. The Earth Charter sets an ethical standard which over time will lead to ethically responsible architecture.

The NZIA has been endlessly debating changing our world-leading environmental policy into something more suitable for business. Along the way history has been forgotten. As a reminder I have put a few of the NZIA Position Papers I wrote in support of the Environmental Policy on line. You will find them at www.tony-wtkins.com/content/view/512/20/ 

I love bouncing ideas around with adults. They know what they are on about and they are willing to make big changes in their lives, and though doing this to also make big changes in the world. I usually manage to banish mediocrity with students either loving or hating my courses.

You will find some thoughts on my March 2008 Green Architecture Continuing Education course at www.tony-watkins.com/content/view/350/31/

Some 2008 thoughts on energy, with a brief explanation of heat pumps, can be found at www.tony-watkins.com/content/view/349/31/

If you have an architect and are really happy with the way everything is going a few questions you might like to ask your architect can be found at www.tony-watkins.com/content/view/

Joan Thorn, one of the students  on the March 2008 course sent in some her thoughts. You will find them at www.tony-watkins.com/content/view/363/31/
 

The courses carry on. Just scroll down to catch up on the 2010 course. 

The quirky story of the time the Planning Department threw out a priceless Robert Ellis painting is at www.tony-watkins.com/content/view/401/31/
Great training for students who would graduate and move on to throwing out whole cultures, just because they were too dumb to understand what they were doing.

The NZIA left itself in an extremely poor position to comment on urban design when it traded in the gracious sophistication of Pembridge for a mess of potage and moved to the cart-dock entry D-72, a building without a single redeeming architectural or urban design feature. You will find a few comments on the sorry saga at www.tony-watkins.com/content/view/298/46/

There is little consolation in knowing that not even a developer would have been that stupid.

It must have been a world record when the entire print run of "Kohukohu Heritage Precinct" sold out at the book launch. You will find most of the book on line at www.tony-watkins.com/content/view/432/46/ Just keep scrolling down.

Despots, great and small, are notable for the excesses of their architecture, and ego-architects love them. Architectural magazines thrive on images of despotic architecture just because the buildings are so photogenic. The public gets the message that real architecture comes with a multi-million dollar price tag. In contrast idealistic visionaries are notable for the simplicity and purity of their architecture. It can easily be overlooked.

At www.tony-watkins.com/content/view/388/84/
you will find a glimpse of the simplicity of Ben Gurion’s house at Sede Boker.

The publicity from the RIBA said their September 2008 Conference “will propose that increasing environmental concerns might lead to a return to the vernacular”. The line up of speakers did not look hopeful, but at last my contention of the last forty years has begun bearing fruit. It will also “question whether globalised architecture can be truly sustainable”. The answer to that should be obvious. The Conference will also “look at how architecture can take away identity from places”, “at worst suppressing the local vernacular in favour of a global style”. It seemed when John Hunt and Errol Haarhoff destroyed my Vernacular Architecture course, probably because the students assessed it to be the most popular course in the School, that I had lost the battle, but eventually the globalisation pendulum swung back to indicate that they were wrong and I was right. 

A couple of photographs of Dobroyd Head are at www.tony-watkins.com/content/view/508/84/ Just something to give hope to those who despair t the direction the world is going in.

All architects end up working on projects which are placeless and yet have a strong identity. You will find a few images of Liverpool athedral and the Hayward Gallery, as well as other projects, at www.tony-watkins.com/content/view/519/84/ 

Selfishness has no part to play in sharing the Commons. On the crowded beaches of the Riviera everyone respects the need to set aside space for fishing boats. On the Quayside in Copenhagen you will find the elderly repairing their boats without anyone suggesting they should move on to make space for brash youngsters.

Only in Auckland does selfishness reign supreme, with the Auckland City Council leading the charge.

You will find a plea for diversity in the maritime commons at www.tony-watkins.com/content/view/392/49/

The saddest thing of all is to see architects and urban designers destroying the commons.

Everyone in New Zealand seems to be talking nonsense about affordable housing.

If you want a house you can afford you need to build it yourself.

It has always been that way and it always will be. It is an oxymoron to suggest that a developer who is in the business of making a profit can also be interested in saving you money. If the government wants to see affordable housing they only need to create a climate which is favourable for the owner-builder.

You will find at www.tony-watkins.com/content/view/391/83/
that the only building built at the Habitat II Conference had none of the pretentiousness of the conference documents. Complicated problems can sometimes have very simple solutions.

Good magazine ran a feature article on Karaka Bay. You will find it, along with lots of photogfraphs, at www.tony-watkins.com/content/view/456/83/

Some recent photographs of Don Groome's house are at www.tony-watkins.com/content/view/524/83/

Tourism is a trap. You end up seeing what someone else thinks you ought to see. Tourists tick boxes when they might instead discover new worlds which they never imagined could exist. When people ask about places or people I have begun sharing my thoughts through my web page. There is no logic. If you are going to Edmonton then I suggest a side trip to the Icefield Parkway. If you are going to Italy it is well worth looking up some of the work of Carlo Scarpa. If you are in the Alpes Maritime region then make a quick side trip to Colletta del Castelbianco. When in Vienna do not miss MAK. In Berlin the 100 bus is ideal for exploring and orientation. It would be easy to miss Gehry’s bank.

In January 2010 I had a hip replacement. The public health system was wonderful and I cannot give enough praise to all the wonderful staff. You will find a few thoughts about my experience at www.tony-watkins.com/content/view/538/71/

The Queens Wharf shed debate continued through 2010, and there seemed to be a swing towards saving them after the AAA launched a campaign. Some of my thoughts are at No ordinary shed www.tony-watkins.com/content/view/545/71/

The Building Act came under review once again in 2010. It was predictable that none of the real issues would be addressed. I ended up talking to a group of mostly theologians about Embodied love. www.tony-watkins.com/content/view/547/71/ 

The wonderful Rawene Book Festival in May 2010 introduced me to Phantom Billstickers. To find out how poetry can be subversive look at www.ton-watkins.com/content/view/550/71/

The leaky building syndrome was the result of cultural failure rather than technical failure. You will find my submissions to the Select Committee at www.tony-watkins.com/content/view/495/71/

Through 2010 debate raged within the NZIA about environmental policy. To remind a new generation I put some of our original Position Papers on line at www.tony-watkins.com/content/view/502/71/ 

If you remember "Jumping Sundays" in 1969 you will enjoy some phtoographs of the 40th anniversary at www.tony-watkins.com/content/view/489/71/ 

I failed to make any submissions to the Select Committee on the Emissions Trading Act. That was a bad mistake. It seemed to me that there would be enough intelligent green people to shake out all the issues. With alarm I have watched discussion driven by selfishness going nowhere. Real self-interest would suggest that we ought to set up the global carbon market in New Zealand. The market will make the money, and before long taxation could be a thing of the past for our country. That would be smart business. We would have more money than we could work out how to spend. Letting someone else run our game is simply selling our soul.

You will find an introduction to the Carbon Con Trick at www.tony-watkins.com/content/view/385/71/

Chris Barfoot has written a superb book on Tahuna Torea. I hope the short quotation at www.tony-watkins.com/content/view/312/71/
might tempt you to buy the book.

The Royal Commission on Auckland Governance seems doomed to failure. Two of the three members managed to produce a report on rates which failed to address almost everything of relevance and came up with a non-conclusion. I knew they would be dismissive of the submission you will find at www.tony-watkins.com/content/view/364/71/
but how could anyone have nothing to say?

On a cheerful note the story at www.tony-watkins.com/content/view/390/71/
of how a Curitiba bus brought action on the Link bus offers hope.

Stroke victims might be interested in my thoughts at www.tony-watkins.com/content/view/367/71/
about making your stroke a positive experience.

Telling it the way it is may not be a pathway to success.

However, as I observed thirty years ago - “If you only say the things people want to hear, you will not say the things which need to be said.”

Judge for yourself the market potential of the ideas at www.tony-watkins.com/content/view/244/72/

Now that the term “green” has lost traction we might do better to talk about “Environmentally Responsible Architecture”.

It is always interesting to discover what threatens people.

A very innocent posting on the Arch-Peace web site on “slow architecture” brought a vitriolic response. I retaliated and regretted not having better photographs of some of my own “slow architecture”, which was of course very fast. The story is at www.tony-watkins.com/content/view/

I will slowly write up the history of Arc-Peace. A couple of photographs from meetings long ago, in Istanbul 1996 can now be found at www.tony-watkins.com/content/view/389/73/

Recent events have brought back into the highlight the secret testing of nuclear weapons on human subjects in Turkestan by the Chinese, You will find a glimpse into the courageous people who dared to speak out at www.tony-watkins.com/content/view/395/194/

Recently I discovered an article of mine, published in Sweden, available as an e-book. It gives a brief history of Arc-Peace Aotearoa, Look at www.tony-watkins.com/content/view/551/73/

With the Planning Department having been destroyed just before its Golden Jubilee there is poignancy in old photographs of the Silver Jubilee. Some are at www.tony-watkins.com/content/view/391/83/

It is hard now to imagine that “restructuring” was a new idea for architects at the 1967 NZIA Conference in Queenstown. If you want to know who some of those architects were in that innocent age look at www.tony-watkins.com/content/view/383/74/

Nostagia too in memories of the Leyland O’Brien timber mill at www.tony-watkins.com/content/view/378/74/

Leyland O’Brien was famous for its scows. A photograph at www.tony-watkins.com/content/view/379/84/ 

One alternative to the Rehab Ward after my stroke was to set out on a 6000km adventure driving around the South Island.

You will find lots of photographs from “Call it Southern Rehab” at  www.tony-watkins.com/content/view/331/92/

Just ignore the text.

There was a slightly terrifying moment when I thought we might have ended up with 150 party-goers stranded on Motukorea. Richard stayed on for an extra hour and shuttled everyone back to the food and wine.

Photographs of Decade-dent Adventures 2008 can be found at www.tony-watkins.com/content/view/335/109/

A selection of Auckland City Library photographs from the thirties, when Riddell Road ran through farmland, can be found at www.tony-watkins.com/content/view/399/179/

Those with power, like Lady Macbeth, become victims of their own paranoia. Those who should have nothing to fear are overwhelmed by their own fear, and they lash out at the innocent. Raping the natural environment becomes nothing more than a desperate attempt to achieve the pleasure which escapes them. The rapists of Karaka Bay gathered together for a field day. Some of the sad story is at www.tony-watkins/content/view/553/109/

The beauty of classic yachts has never been equalled. Sailing on the Rona takes any crew back to 1892.

Catch a glimpse at www.tony-watkins.com/content/view/307/117/

The sculpture of Lindsay Evans exhibited at Village Arts in March 2008 were very architectural.

If you have some empty architecture check them out at www.tony-watkins.com/content/view/354/129/

The 2008 Coromandel Group exhibition at Hauraki House offered a feast of wonderful pottery.

There are a few images at www.tony-watkins.com/content/view/346/129/  

Village Arts, Kohukohu, has gone from stregth to strength, with a wonderful succession of superb exhibitions. One of the highlights of 2009 was "Hotere Country". Find out more about it at www.tony-watkins.com/content/view/497/129/ 

2008 saw the passing of Barry Barclay, Walter Pollard, Hone Tuwhare, Ed Hillary and Joe Polaischer. We will not see the likes of them again.

A selection of Karaka Bay photographs can be found at www.tony-watkins.com/content/view/365/226/

A selection of Sunday Star Times photographs can be found at www.tony-watkins.com/content/view/366/226/

The Herald ran an article on the Undeclared Interest of two of the three members of the ACC panel appointed to revise the dog bylaw.

You will find it at www.tony-watkins.com/content/view/396/276/

There is always something to learn at Pasifika, the largest Polynesian Festival in the South Pacific.

In 2008 one of the Umus was put down on top of corrugated iron and it was highly successful.

You unfortunately cannot enjoy the food, but a photograph is at www.tony-watkins.com/content/view/342/291/

“Beyond the Landing”, published in 2008 to celebrate a hundred years since the founding of the Morrinsville Town Board, included an autobiography of Frank Marshall.

Check it out at www.tony-watkins.com/content/view/347/390/