2022 Gold Medal: Hear from Nicholas Stevens and Gary Lawson at this free lecture series
13 April 2023
Nicholas Stevens and Gary Lawson, recipients of the 2022 Gold Medal award, architecture’s highest honour, will present a Te Kāhui Whaihanga Gold Medal lecture series nationwide this Autumn.
It’s an opportunity to hear the renowned design duo speak on the places, people and histories woven into their architecture, and the design approach they have developed over 20 years in partnership at Stevens Lawson Architects. The series includes seven lectures across Aotearoa New Zealand between May and June. All Gold Medal lectures are free to attend thanks to the support of AON, and tickets can be reserved here.
Known for their humanist architecture, Nicholas Stevens and Gary Lawson are the first pair to receive the Gold Medal award since 2001. The award recognises their ability to create buildings with an innate sensitivity to how people live, experience and move in the world, and that reflect both the culture and landscape of contemporary Aotearoa New Zealand and their civic-minded philosophy when it comes to architecture.
As the Gold Medal jury said when bestowing the award in February 2023, Stevens Lawson Architects’ projects have a quality of ‘home’ about them, of comfort as well as beauty, of places to be welcomed and to belong. Their commercial, public and residential buildings sit gently and timelessly in their landscapes, as if they were always meant to be there, and always will be.
Nicholas and Gary joined forces in 2002. The result of their collaboration is 80 bespoke houses, civic and public buildings, and more than 20 multi-residential projects to date. One of their best-known projects is HomeGround, the supportive housing project for Auckland City Mission – Te Tāpui Atawhai. The Spinoff described it as “a gorgeous building that puts the architecture of the apartments in the hundred metres surrounding it, direction regardless, in a harsh light. It feels modern, it feels futuristic, and it feels oddly inviting.” The Gold Medal judges cited it as a model of care-informed architecture. It’s also a model of technical innovation: the tallest structural timber building in Aotearoa, and the product of meticulously considered sustainability principles.
The Institute has recognised Stevens Lawson Architects work with 25 national and 24 regional awards over the years, as well as the New Zealand Architecture Medal, the Supreme Award and the 2022 John Scott Award for Public Architecture. They were awarded a category win and highly commended at the 2022 World Architecture Festival for the Chapel of St. Peter and HomeGround.
Please register in the links below for these events. All lectures start at 4.00pm.
Christchurch — Wednesday 10 May 2023 | Christchurch Town Hall
Wellington —Thursday 18 May 2023 | St James Theatre
Nelson — Friday 26 May 2023 | The Suter Art Gallery
Auckland — Thursday 8 June 2023 | Viaduct Events Centre
Rotorua — Wednesday 14 June 2023 | Sir Howard Morrison Centre
New Plymouth — Friday 16 June 2023 | TSB Showplace
Arrowtown — Friday 23 June 2023 | Athenaeum Hall
Hawke's Bay — Thursday 17 August 2023 | The Blyth Performing Arts Centre
Watch the 2022 Gold Medal film: