Wellington Architectural Centre

The Architectural Centre Inc is a nonprofit organization in Wellington, New Zealand, for architects and laypeople with an interest in architecture which offers lectures, site visits, tours and exhibitions.

History of the centre

The centre was established in 1946 in Wellington, New Zealand. It ran the first architectural school in Wellington (1946–1956), and the first town planning school in New Zealand (1949–1956). It also ran the Centre Gallery (1953–1968), an early venue for exhibiting modern art, and published Design Review (1948–1954) – one of the first design-oriented journals in New Zealand.

The centre has also held many exhibitions, including:

  • Te Aro Replanned (1947/48)
  • Vertical Living/ Living in Cities (1954)
  • 196X (1960)
  • Harbour Front (1971)
  • Unbuilt Wellington (1987)
  • Home made Home (1991)
  • Reclaiming (Northern Gateway Exhibition) (1999)
  • Manifesto exhibition (2006)

It has lobbied the Wellington City Council about issues to do with Wellington's built environment and run competitions, such as the annual 20under40 24 hour ideas competition, which began in 1990. More recently, the Architectural Centre published an architectural manifesto (2006), and has been a partner in the organisation of Wellington Architecture Week.

Past and present members of the Architectural Centre include:

Membership

Membership is about 150, and a regular newsletter is published.

References

  • Architectural Centre (N.Z.) Demonstration House (Wellington: Architectural Centre, 195-?)
  • Architectural Centre (Wellington, N.Z.) Wgtn 196X: city development (Wellington: Architectural Centre, 1961)
  • Architectural Centre Wellington’s northern gateway: an exhibition of the rail-yards, ports of Wellington and associated land by the Architectural Centre: November 1999. (Wellington: Architectural Centre, 1999)
  • "Architectural Centre Aims at High Ideals" The Dominion (Wednesday 2 April 1947) p. 6.
  • "Architectural Centre's "Ideal" House" Building Progress (March 1949) p. 34.
  • Beard, James Albert, Social concern, building and the Architectural Centre, Wellington (Wellington: New Zealand Heritage and Conservation Trust and Wellington Heritage and Conservation Trust, 1997)
  • Design review (Wellington: Architectural Centre, 1948)
  • Gatley, Julia "A Contemporary Dwelling: The Demonstration House" Zeal and Crusade: the modern movement in Wellington ed John Wilson (Christchurch: Te Waihora Press, c1996) pp. 88–95.
  • "Homes Without Sprawl – An Exhibition about Houses and gardens prepared by the Architectural Centre" Home & Building (1 August 1958) v. XXI, n. 3, pp. 33–37.
  • Marriage, Guy "Doing each other's thing" Architecture New Zealand (Jan/Feb 2005) n. 1, pp. 78–79.
  • Walker, Paul "Order from Chaos: Replanning Te Aro" Zeal and Crusade: the modern movement in Wellington ed John Wilson (Christchurch: Te Waihora Press, c1996) pp. 79–87.
  • "What is 'the Architectural Centre'?" Design Review (Apr/May 1949) v. 1, n. 6, pp. 17–18.

See also