2023 President's Awards

Dr Denise Civil, FNZIA
Denise, your career in architecture has helped hundreds of your peers across the profession, from established architects, schools of architecture, to recent graduates and students still completing their studies. Through your co-founding of the Thursday Lunch Group 33-years ago in 1990, you have bought together other women architects in sole practice to learn from and support each other. In 2000, the Institute sought your services to adapt a series of RIBA booklets for New Zealand conditions including, “Starting a Practice” and “Keeping out of Trouble”. Those booklets have helped many architects in their careers and practice. During 2009-2015 you made a significant contribution to the Australian and New Zealand Architecture Programme Accreditation Procedure (ANZ APAP) which validates the architecture degree programs offered in New Zealand. This included representing the Institute at meetings with the Australian Institute of Architects in Canberra. Denise, your influence on the profession and its education has been significant. You have been both an Institute and an NZRAB-nominated member of the National Visiting Panel. Your first visit was to Unitec in 2003. Since then you have been on twelve visiting panels, as a panellist, Deputy Chair and Chair, including four visits to Australian schools of architecture. Denise, the Institute, our members and architecture students thank you for your dedication and service to the profession.

Elizabeth Cox
Elizabeth, your dedication and unbridled talent in uncovering and sharing the stories of New Zealand’s heritage buildings and the people who have inhabited them is a gift to the nation. Your passion for social and women’s history has been important in the story of architecture in Aotearoa New Zealand. Making Space will become a seminal text in architectural education and the professions’ body of knowledge. Your work alongside 30 leading women architects, architectural historians and academics, shines a light on hundreds of remarkable women, including many whose careers have until now been lost to the historical record. Elizabeth, your efforts to document and preserve New Zealand’s heritage have been recognised both nationally and internationally. It is only fitting that Te Kāhui Whaihanga duly recognises your extraordinary talent and contribution to the profession, our understanding of our history and our heritage and the role and influence of architecture. It is with great admiration that we recognise you, Elizabeth Cox, with a President’s Award, and we look forward to the continuation of your work and the untold stories that come to light in the years to come.

Ken Davis, FNZIA
Ken, you bring heart and hope to architecture. Since 1987 you have actively sought to influence social and public housing in Aotearoa New Zealand through study and advocacy. You have been a passionate advocate for our built heritage and played a leading role in the Institute’s partnership with the Wilson family to establish the F. Gordon Wilson Fellowship for Public Housing. Your seminal thesis, “A Liberal Turn of Mind: The Architectural Work of F Gordon Wilson, 1936-1959: A Cultural Analysis” about Gordon Wilson, along with your strong bonds with the Wilson family have been appreciated and valued by the Institute. The F. Gordon Wilson Fellowship will see Wilson’s influence on public housing move beyond the built legacy to a future of generational ideas that will continue to influence social and public housing in this country. As an architect, Ken, at Kāinga Ora you have a wonderful opportunity to influence the design and quality of social and public housing and to support and inspire the architecture profession and wider industry. Thank you, Ken, for your passion, enthusiasm and your ambition to see architects and architecture valued. We look forward to your continuing influence on the profession and to public and social housing.

Guy Marriage, FNZIA
Over three decades, Guy, your passion for making the world better through architecture has been highly visible. As an architect, author, lecturer and founder of a practice you are leaving an indelible mark on the profession, its future and the buildings and spaces built around Aotearoa New Zealand. You take architecture to the people. Through a warm, engaging manner you willingly accept the responsibility every architect has to design with function, beauty and adaptability in mind. You are always looking for how architects today and into the future can be better. You regularly ask and challenge architects and students to think about the future because good architecture lasts for generations. You have supported and inspired many students to be curious, to be courageous and to always seek opportunities to have their ideas built. Through building one learns. Your generosity and support of Te Kāhui Whaihanga New Zealand Institute of Architects has also been outstanding and appreciated. We look forward to seeing what leading ideas, seminal texts and designs you produce next.

Peter McPherson
Peter, this President’s Award is to recognise the impact your passion and expertise is bringing to the future of architecture not just in Aotearoa New Zealand but across the world. Here in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland, your work as Head of School, Te Whare Wānanga o Wairaka, Unitec – School of Architecture is supporting the future of our profession at the first step. At the same time, you are continuously working across education and practice to improve architectural education. Your collaborative approach to education is evidenced through the relationship with Otago Polytechnic Te Kura Matatini ki Otago which supports accredited architectural education being accessible to South Island students. The Institute has also appreciated the leadership you have shown in the recent role of President of the Association of Architecture Schools of Australasia (AASA). As President, AASA led submissions to Australian state and federal governments on proposed policies affecting the registration and regulation of architects and building practitioners. You also sought to strengthen AASA’s relationship with the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA) in North America and form new partnerships with equivalent bodies in Europe and Asia. This extended international network and relationships offers considerable benefits to New Zealand architectural education. Peter, the Institute thanks you for your long-standing service to the Auckland Branch and the generous time and invaluable expertise you have provided the Institute.

New Zealand Architects Co-operative Society (NZACS)
The New Zealand Architects Co-operative Society (NZACS) have been at the forefront of risk management services and support to registered architects and architecture practices across Aotearoa New Zealand. Established in 1972, by architects and for architects, NZACS has continuously provided market leading professional indemnity insurance products and advice to the profession. With over 750 members, NZACS’s contribution to the profession has been immeasurable and is essential for any practice. NZACS understands the profession and the risks architects face every day. It is with this knowledge that architects can trust with confidence NZACS and the products and services they provide. With the support of NZACS, architects have been able to work on increasingly complex projects with confidence. This award also recognises the Institute members and registered architects who have contributed their knowledge and expertise to NZACS, as Board members, Chairs or Committee members. These roles offer invaluable support, guidance and advice to the profession, sometimes in difficult times. NZACS, thank you for providing outstanding support and services to architects and practices for the last 50 years. We know you will be there for architects and practice for another 50 years and more.

Helen Robinson
Helen, as City Missioner of Manutaki of Auckland City Mission – Te Tāpui Atawhai, you are well respected by the Institute and the people of Tāmaki Makaurau for your dedication to our most vulnerable. HomeGround has called on your inner determination, fighting spirit and mana to see a wonderful idea become a reality. Your ability to remain focused on the project and its benefits under some trying circumstances has inspired others, including the architects, Stevens Lawson and the wider community. Those relationships were instrumental to a project that at times must had seemed like a mountain to climb, but failure was not an option. Now Tāmaki Makaurau has a resource that creates homes, safe places and accessible support for people in our community who need it most. Architecturally it is a landmark, the cultural sensitivity, timber technology and sustainability have been recognised internationally. Thank you, Helen, may your selflessness and tenacity leading the Auckland City Mission continue to serve Aucklanders well into the future.

David Waters
David, your services to the Institute, our members and the industry over three decades has been immeasurable. We are eternally grateful for the courageous step you took back in 1984, forcing yourself up to meet your first architect, Duncan Wu at Babbage Partners. From that point onward – neither you nor the architectural profession has looked back. And today, after finding yourself called in for a chat with Craig Vincent (then General Manager at APL) in 1993, the rest is history. We know there are many more poignant moments ahead in the contribution of David Waters and APL to the people and profession that we both admire and support – architects and architecture. Your encyclopaedic knowledge of the people who make up this industry and your willingness to share knowledge with our members, architects and Emerge (emerging professionals) is exemplary. Your ‘hands-on’ approach to our Registration Programme has contributed to its success. This care and attention given to our emerging professionals supports their path into the profession. Your commitment and continued investment in knowledge, research and the delivery of high-performing products to our members has contributed to the quality of work being delivered in Aotearoa New Zealand. And, of course, the deepening of APL’s support in more recent years to include the New Zealand Local Awards programme has lifted these events to a new level. Your energy, enthusiasm and positivity, both in the room and on stage is appreciated by members and clients alike. Thank you, David, you are an invaluable partner, knowledge broker and true friend of the architect and the New Zealand Institute of Architects.