On 18 November 2022 at the Christchurch Town Hall, Te Kāhui Whaihanga New Zealand Institute of Architects and family members of former Government Architect F. Gordon Wilson announced the establishment of the F. Gordon Wilson Fellowship to help address one of today’s most pressing human rights, housing.
The F. Gordon Wilson Fellowship seeks to promote creative design thinking, problem solving, and new ideas and approaches to significant unmet housing needs across Aotearoa New Zealand through a self-directed research project. The programme will also cultivate new housing leaders who can contribute to the ongoing transformation of public housing in New Zealand.
The focus of the Fellowship on public housing recognises Wilson’s historic role as a design champion for State Housing in New Zealand. F. Gordon Wilson led the creation of the innovative State Housing programme, which included thousands of new single, duplex, and multi-unit houses, as well as a small range of internationally recognised modernist apartment buildings (such as the Symonds Street Flats in central Auckland).
The Fellowship will be supported with partnerships across agencies and organisations like Kāinga Ora and Te Tūāpapa Kura Kāinga, Ministry of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), among others worldwide.
Te Kāhui Whaihanga thanks Ken Davis for initiating the discussions and connections with the Wilson family, and the Wilson family for their dedication, selflessness and generosity in establishing this partnership with the Institute and the opportunity to inspire and influence change in public housing outcomes in New Zealand.
F. Gordon Wilson FNZIA, ARIBA, 1900-1959. Government Architect 1952-1959