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http://www.tony-watkins.com/images/M_images/joomla_rss.pngtext/html2007-04-23T06:43:01+01:00http://www.tony-watkins.comSo what's new in Photographer?
http://www.tony-watkins.com/content/view/217/30/
Nothing here which is right up to date, but some older work to enjoy.
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/html2008-05-26T09:12:12+01:00http://www.tony-watkins.comSo what's new in Popular Author?
http://www.tony-watkins.com/content/view/404/696/
Thinking it through is available from either Rim Books or Karaka Bay Press for the astonishingly low price of $30. This book brings together a series of articles by Tony Watkins and photographs by Haru Sameshima, originally published in Home and Building over an eight year period. You will find a review by Greg O'Brien published in Tui Motu at www.tony-watkins.com/content/view624/20/ and a review by John Walsh published in the Listener at www.tony-watkins.com/content/view/618/20/ You will find a selection of the original articles at www.tony-watkins.com/content/view/21/20/ (content/view/21/20/)
This book would make an ideal present.
The Human House is now available as a book. Itgathers together all the articles which originally appeared in the Auckland Star along with a Prologue and an Epilogue. It is available for $40 from John Balasoglou or for $35, or $40 including packing and postage, from Karaka Bay Press, through this web site. You will find a review at www.tony-watkins.com/content/view/486/20/ (http://www.tony-watkins.co,/content/view/486/20/)
Everyone thinking about building a house should read this book first.
Copies of Piglet the Great of Karaka Bay are still available. A few sample pages at www.tony-watkins.com/content/view/9/26 (content/view/9/26/)
All these books are also available at Tower Bakery in Waimarie Street, the best bakery in Auckland.
Kohukohu Heritage Precinct by Tony Watkins and Graeme North, originally published in 2009, was reprinted in 2013. It is available from Village Arts , or directly from Karaka Bay Press. $20 but half price for Kohukohu locals.
After a short-run reprint a very limited number of copies of Veracular - An architecture for the RMA and Agenda 21 were available from Parsons. Sadly the bookshop closed down in 2012 but they may still be able to supply. Check the price with them.
Hopefully The house that Piglet Built will be published in late 2014. This book tells the story of the building of Arakaianga at Te Ohu with the support of Piglet at the Tree House. It weaves together Hokianga adventures and different ways of seeing the world.
An article on Rio+20 was published in both the August 2012 issue of Tui Motu and NZIA Cross Section, with extracts in the Arc-Peace Newsletter. You will find it at www.tony-watkins.com/content/view/605/20/ (content/view/605/20/)
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.
Stormwater forum in November 2013 took the Auckland Council to task for failing to obtain Resource Consents for itself while expecting everyon else to do so.
Older letters include Planners take note published in the Herald, in Jaunuary 2011. It praised Chris Barton for his excellent writing about Sagrade Familia and Mark Burry. It also hoped there might be changes in the planning process. Check it out at www.tony-watkins.com/content/view/572/20/ (content/view/573/20/)
My letter published in the Herald on GM pine was cheered on by friends, but a dead duck as far as the public was concerned. Rather like leaky homes. No one was interested until their own homes rotted to pieces. Check it out at www.tony-watkins.com/content/view/566/20/ (content/view/566/20)
Two other older 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 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 Tui Motu pointed out that creativity during the Medieval period was at least 22 times greater than it is now. Simple statistics suggest that our building industry is a basket case. You will find it at www.tony-watkins.com/contect/view/564/20
(content/view/564/20/)
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.
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/ (content/view/512/20/)
text/html2008-05-27T04:41:16+01:00http://www.tony-watkins.comSo what's new in Design Educator?
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 through 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/)
Unfortunately the Vice Chancellor decided that a well educated community was of no concern to a corporate university. In 2012 the Centre for Continuing Edcation was closed down, We held a farewell wake for CCE and the seven staff dismissed on 12 July 2012.
When I retired after almost forty years of teaching at the University of Auckland I celebrated by presenting a paper on teaching excellence. It celebrated some of the heroic moments when we changed the course of history. You will find Only those who do understand at www.tony-watkins.com/content/view/20/31/ (content/view/20/31/)
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.
After I recommended the book as the only one anyone needed on sustainabllity, in the article on my library, several architects have purchased The Hannover Principles . You will find the principles themselves at www.tony-watkins.com/conteetn/view/214/31/ (content/view/214/31/)
but I still recommend purchasing the book.
text/html2008-05-27T04:45:47+01:00http://www.tony-watkins.comSo what's new in Urban Designer?
http://www.tony-watkins.com/content/view/406/30/
We set a world record when the entire print run of The Kohukohu Heritage Precinct was sold out at the book launch on 9 May 2010, during the Rawene Book Festival. A reprint is on the way. Meanwhile much of the material is available at www.tony-watkins.com/content/view/432/46/ (http/www.tony-watkins.com/contect/view/432/46/)
Just scroll on down.
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.
Notes from an evening presentation on Heritage to SOS (Save Our St Heliers) on 26 July 2012 can be found at www.tony-watkins.com/content/view/606/46/ (content/view/606/46/)
text/html2008-05-27T04:49:58+01:00http://www.tony-watkins.comSo what's new in Vernacular Architect?
http://www.tony-watkins.com/content/view/407/30/
Home Work, a book by Godwit, an imprint of Random House, was published in November 2010. The superb text is by John Walsh, and Patrick Reynolds did the photographs. The book presents 23 architects and their own homes. Tony Watkins was one of the architects chosen and you will find the section on him at www.tony-watkins.com/content/view/567/84/ (content/view/567/84/)
Unfortunately it is now out of print, but you may find a copy in a second hand book store. Home NZ reprinted the entire section on Tony.
Issue 5:2010 of Architecture New Zealand featured the libraries of seven architects. Each architect then selected five books of significance to them. Tony Watkins was one of the featured architects and you will find details at www.tony-watkins.com/content/view/568/84/ (content/view/568/84/)
However to understand the context you should buy a copy of the magazine.
Issue 6:2010 of Architecture NZ featured my plea to use the planning process to save our best architecture. You will find Lessons from Coolangatta at www.tony-watkins.com/content/view/571/84/ (content/view/571/84/)
The message seems even more poignant after Council corruption won out over people's democracy with the loss of the wonderful houses in Turua Street, Saint Heliers.
Beyond the vernacular Tony has been involved with a great deal of mainstream architecture. A few of these projects may be found on the web-site. The Hayward Gallery London is at www.tony-watkins/content/view/509/84/ (content/view/509/84/)
Liverpool Cathedral is at www.tony-watkins.com/content/view/519/84/ (content/view/519/84/)
Government Life Hamilton is at www.tony-watkins.com/content/view/511/84/ (www.tony-watkins.com/content/view/511/84/)
Te Awamutu church is at www.tony-watkins.com/content/view/ (content/view/559/84/)
At the very beginning of his career Tony designed the sundial in the Waitangi Tresty grounds. You will find that at www.tony-watkins.com/content/view/510/84/ (content/view/510/84/)
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 would 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. The Conference was also to “question whether globalised architecture can be truly sustainable”. The answer to that should have been obvious. The Conference also looked 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/ (content/view/508/84/)
Just something to give hope to those who despair at the direction the world is going in.