Sir Ian Athfield Award for Housing
Ian Athfield in 2004, when he received the NZIA’s Gold Medal, the highest personal architecture honour in New Zealand.
Photo by Simon Devitt
The Sir Ian Athfield Award for Housing acknowledges the distinguished career of Sir Ian Athfield (1940 – 2015).
Ath’s legacy is preserved in a number of notable buildings, among them the eclectic hilltop encampment in Khandallah, Wellington, that served as his family’s home and his studio, and which is one of the great chapters in the story of residential architecture in New Zealand. Ath had a profound understanding of the ordering of domestic life – and most other architectural issues as well – and the NZIA has named this award in tribute to Ath’s talent and great spirit.