Two academics at The University of Auckland’s School of Architecture and Planning have been awarded the New Zealand Institute of Architects (NZIA) President’s Award in recognition of services to architecture.

Lecturer Julia Gatley and Senior Lecturer Bill McKay received the awards at the NZIA gala dinner in late May.

Julia Gatley has been researching New Zealand’s modern architecture since the mid-1990s. Her book, Long Live the Modern: New Zealand’s New Architecture, 1904-1984 (Auckland University Press, 2008), was widely reviewed and critically acclaimed, earning a place on the NZ Listener’s list of top 100 books for 2008 and is now in its third printing. 

The book identifies 180 of New Zealand’s best and most important modern buildings, sites and neighbourhoods and promotes the heritage recognition of a greater number of modern places.  The exhibition of the same name, co-curated with Bill McKay, is currently touring the country. 

Bill McKay has been an active writer and researcher over the last two decades and published many papers focusing on NZ architectural history. His particular interest is in M?ori architecture; the new book, M?ori Architecture, by Bill McKay’s colleague, Senior Lecturer Deidre Brown, acknowledges his “outstanding work” in this area.

With Douglas Lloyd Jenkins Bill McKay started the journal Modern NZ in the mid- 90s, which ran for several issues and reflected new interest in New Zealand modernism. Bill McKay also works as a critic and writes regularly for Architecture NZ and many other magazines. He has been involved in numerous architecture exhibitions, the largest of which was “The 1950s Show” at the Auckland City Art Gallery, and the most recent of which was “Long Live the Modern” with Julia Gatley. Their book on the Group Architects is due out next year.

“NICAI congratulates Julia and Bill on what is well-deserved recognition for their contributions in the field of architecture,” says Professor Jenny Dixon, acting Dean of NICAI. “Their work as researchers, authors and critics is of a very high calibre and reflects the faculty’s ongoing commitment to excellence in scholarship.”

The University of Auckland’s National Institute of Creative Arts and Industries comprises the School of Architecture and Planning, Elam School of Fine Arts, the Centre for New Zealand Art Research and Discovery (CNZARD), the School of Music and the Dance Studies Programme.

NICAI