Downsizing
In the 1940’s my parents built a classic brick and tile on ¼ acre in Hamilton suburbia and lived there for the rest of their lives. It was a nuclear family home of its time.
After us kids left home, three of the four bedrooms remained empty. The land remained, with its maintenance intensive lawn, and was never subdivided.
For the last fifty years or so in developed countries, it has been a demonstrable measure of success to own a large site upon which sits a large house. The house was a statement of social stratification as well as a place to live.
Nowadays we are much more likely to tailor our houses to fit our practical needs, rather than display affluence. This has inevitably led to better designed homes with footprints compatible with more affordable smaller sites. The ‘baby boomer’ generation of nuclear families has now splintered into many differing social groupings, and housing needs to reflect the current diversity. Read More
The Art of the Collective Noun
Miss M and I are avid television quiz watchers. We pitch ourselves against the television contestants, with quiet competition between the two of us. She shines on the arts and literature subjects. I have distinct superiority when it comes to cars, building, and science.
We’re both not too bad on geography and rubbish on contemporary pop culture.
If the ITV were to suddenly ring me up and ask me to audition to become a Chaser, there’s a few standard things I would try to bone up on – the name of every country’s capital and the colours on their flags; the size of the planets and what their moons are called; everything about the periodic table; and the mysterious collection of words called Collective Nouns.
Question: The collective nouns for crows is:
A: A sord
B: A convocation
C: A murder
The Leadfoot Festival
I recently attended New Zealand’s best kept car culture secret.
Barely publicised, this amazing event is held over two days in early February, at Rod and Shelly Millen’s immaculate ‘ranch’ at Hahei in the glorious Coromandel, a piece of paradise which they purchased 9 years ago.
It’s 150 acres of parkland and woods without any animal inhabitants.
Inspired by the legendary Goodwood Festival of Speed in the UK, the Millens have built a 4.0m sealed driveway from their front gate up to their house, some 200 metres higher and 1.6 km further away, Read More
The world’s largest construction site
I have recently returned from the world’s largest construction site.
Tower cranes and trucks everywhere.
30 years ago Dubai started as a poor fishing village at the mouth of natural waterway called Dubai Creek.
Then ‘liquid gold’ was discovered. Read More
AUCKLAND SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE CENTENNIAL WEEKEND
First up, allow me some nostalgia.
Several years ago a group of us graduates from the Auckland School of Architecture elected to conduct a regular lunch event to celebrate the life of one of our Wellington colleagues, Brian Hope, who had died suddenly.
This tradition has continued 2-3 times a year ever since, depending on co-ordination with our complex and overlapping lives.
Sadly, three more of the Wellington contingent, Sir Ian Athfield, Keith Wilson and more recently, John Craig, have also passed away, leading to the centre of gravity of our group moving to Auckland, where the majority of the sixties graduates now reside. Read More
