James Timberlake in the Dominion Post

Phew! We're back from our very busy week-long Home of the Year judging tour, with our visiting US architect James Timberlake (below) and New Zealand architect Patrick Clifford. We saw a great diversity of homes, and our thanks go out to the architects and owners of the homes on our shortlist for helping to arrange our visits. The finalists and winner of the Home of the Year award will be revealed in our August/September issue, out August 4.

While we were on the road, James gave talks in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch to a total of around 1,000 people, so thanks to all of you who came along. Highlights of his Auckland presentation will be posted online soon at eboss - we'll let you know when they go live.

In the meantime, James' interview with Hank Schouten of the Dominion Post is online now at the link here. Thanks again to Altherm Window Systems for making James' visit possible.

James Timberlake in Christchurch

Good news - thanks to the support of Altherm Window Systems, the Canterbury branch of the New Zealand Institute of Architects and the Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology (CPIT) we've been able to organise a talk in Christchurch by James Timberlake.

James will talk about many of his projects and particularly about his experience in developing low-cost housing in New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.  

Our apologies for the relatively short notice, but I'm sure you'll understand that the situation in Christchurch means these events are not as straightforward to organise as in other centres. 

This talk will be FREE as a gesture of support to Christchurch as the city enters its next phase of recovery. If you're interested in coming along, here are the details:

Thursday 5 May 2011, 6.30pm
DL Lecture Theatre, CPIT
Madras Street (entrance off the D Block Quad)

We look forward to seeing our Christchurch readers there.

James Timberlake in Viva

HOME's former editor Claire McCall has a nice interview with James Timberlake in the New Zealand Herald's Viva supplement. You can read it here. Also! There are still some tickets available in Auckland and Wellington next Monday and Tuesday, which you can purchase at the link here. Thanks again to Altherm Window Systems for helping bring James here.

On the wireless: James Timberlake

James Timberlake was on Afternoons with Jim Mora on Radio New Zealand National this afternoon. You can find the interview online at the Afternoons homepage here.

For those of you who don't already know, Altherm Window Systems is helping us bring James here from Philadelphia in the first week of May to be the international member of our Home of the Year jury. You can read more about James and his firm KieranTimberlake's many achievements in the post just down the page from this one.

He's giving lectures in Auckland (on Monday May 2) and Wellington (on Tuesday May 3) when he's here. Tickets are selling fast on Ticketek at the link here.

Events: James Timberlake visits New Zealand

We're delighted to announced that, thanks to the assistance of our Home of the Year partner Altherm Window Systems, James Timberlake of Philadelphia's KieranTimberlake Architects will be the international member of our Home of the Year jury. James (pictured below) will visit New Zealand in the first week of May.

As well as joining Patrick Clifford of Architectus and me (Jeremy) on the tour judging homes shortlisted for the Home of the Year award, James will give lectures in Auckland (on Monday May 2) and Wellington (on Tuesday May 3).  You can purchase tickets to his lectures from Ticketek here.

KieranTimberlake Architects are at the top of their game right now: last year the firm won the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Award, and in 2008 they were recognised with the Architecture Firm Award, the highest honour bestowed on a firm by the American Insitute of Architects.

In 2008, the firm developed a prefabricated dwelling (below) commissioned by the Museum of Modern Art for its exhibition Home Delivery: Fabricating the Modern Dwelling.

More recently, KieranTimberlake won the competition to design the new Embassy of the United States in London, shown in the rendering below.

The firm's best-known house is probably the Loblolly house (below) in Maryland, an elegant exercise in using prefabricated components to create a one-of-a-kind house. The image is by Peter Aaron/Esto.



James is the latest in series of esteemed international architects who have visited New Zealand to be on the Home of the Year juding panel, including Charles Renfro, Brendan Macfarlane, Glenn Murcutt, Kerstin Thompson, John Wardle and Ian Moore. We're very grateful all of them have taken the time to come here and share their knowledge and expertise with us. We hope you're able to attend James' lectures, which promise to be fascinating. Last year's events with Charles Renfro sold out quickly, so don't delay. Architects who attend are eligible for 10 CPD points.