Joomla! site syndication http://www.tony-watkins.com 2010-03-12T04:13:44+01:00 http://www.tony-watkins.com http://www.tony-watkins.com/images/M_images/joomla_rss.png text/html 2007-04-23T06:43:01+01:00 http://www.tony-watkins.com http://www.tony-watkins.com/content/view/217/30/ Photos from the wedding of Fiona and Eugene are at www.tony-watkins.com/content/view/184/77/ (content/view/184/77/) Photos from the wedding of Rossella and Nicholas are at www.tony-watkins.com/content/view/208/77/ (content/view/208/77/) Photos from the wedding of Charlotte and James are at www.tony-watkins.com/content/view/183/77/ (content/view/183/77/) Photos from Piglet's 11th birthday party are at www.tony-watkins.com/content/view/191/109/ (content/view/191/109/) Some photos from the last Green Architecture Course can be found at www.tony-watkins.com/content/view/194/31/ (content/view/194/31/)www.tony-watkins.com/content/view//212/83/ (content/view/212/83/) text/html 2008-05-26T09:12:12+01:00 http://www.tony-watkins.com http://www.tony-watkins.com/content/view/404/30/ 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. 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/ (http;/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/ (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/ (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/ (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. text/html 2008-05-27T04:41:16+01:00 http://www.tony-watkins.com http://www.tony-watkins.com/content/view/405/30/ 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/ (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/ (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/ (content/view/348/31/) 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/ (content/view/363/31/) 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/ (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. text/html 2008-05-27T04:45:47+01:00 http://www.tony-watkins.com http://www.tony-watkins.com/content/view/406/30/ 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/ (content/view/298/46/) There is little consolation in knowing that not even a developer would have been that stupid. text/html 2008-05-27T04:49:58+01:00 http://www.tony-watkins.com http://www.tony-watkins.com/content/view/407/30/ 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/ (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.