The Institute has been very saddened to hear of the passing of Rewi Thompson, a notable and much valued member of New Zealand’s architecture community.
Rewi, who was of Ngāti Porou and Ngāti Raukawa descent, was raised in Wellington. After completing a Certificate of Engineering at Wellington Polytechnic he worked at Structon Group as a structural draughtsperson before transferring to the firm’s architecture department. He then studied architecture at the University of Auckland before joining Structon in Auckland. After registration, Rewi established his own practice in 1983. He rose rapidly to prominence with projects including his own house (1985), Boehringer Ingelheim Office & Warehouse (1989) and Pukenga at UNITEC (1991). Over the course of more than two decades Rewi served as Māori design consultant for numerous projects, among them new educational, correctional and health facilities.
Rewi won numerous competitions and architectural awards, including a UNESCO International Award for a housing scheme designed for urban Māori. In 2002, he was appointed Adjunct Professor at Auckland University’s School of Architecture, and was a key figure in the education of a generation of Auckland architects. Recently, Rewi was a member of the creative team that produced Future Islands, New Zealand’s exhibition at the 2016 Venice Architecture Biennale.