My Favourite Building: Futuna's 50th anniversary

Wellington art dealer Peter McLeavey's favourite building is featured in our current issue. Peter chose John Scott's masterpiece, Futuna Chapel, as his favourite - you can read why below. The photograph is by Paul McCredie.

"This enigmatic masterpiece has always held me," Peter writes. "For me it consists of two halves, the exterior and interior. The exterior evokes Maori civilisation and the cultures of the Pacific, while the interior reminds me of the beginnings of Christianity, the communities where the church began, the world of the desert fathers, the architecture of the Benedictine order and the Cistercians. The exterior is relatively unadorned where the form carries the aesthetic, while the beautifully orchestrated interior is embellished with the Stations of the Cross and glass designed by Jim Allen. Its reticence nourishes the spirit."

CELEBRATING 50 YEARS - THE PROGRAMME

Futuna Chapel, Friend Street, Karori, Wellington is the venue for all events. Seating capacity 100 persons. A marquee and extra chairs will be available for overfl ow. A small PA system will broadcast the Mass to the outside area. Public welcome to all events (preferential booking for architects at CPD events). Refreshments available for purchase. No parking on site please

FRIDAY 18TH MARCH

Powhiri and welcome (Th e powhiri will be outdoors weather permitting.)

Unveiling of restored plaques and gold medal

Music performance by Aroha Yates-Smith

Time: 5:00 to 7:30pm

SATURDAY 19TH MARCH

Mass celebrated by Archbishop John Dew

Time: 11:00am 12:30pm

ARCHITECTURE MODELLING SEMINAR / 15 CPD points

Cost: $15.00 NZIA members / $20.00 non NZIA members / Arch Students Free (limited spaces available)

Time: 2:00pm – 3:30pm

Participants: Plytech, Ponoko, Tony Richardson – Model Designer, architecture students

To Book: Th e Whiteboard Ltd / mail@thewhiteboard.co.nz / ph 04 4999550

FUTUNA: DESIGN RESEARCH SEMINAR / 20 CPD points

Cost: $20.00 NZIA members / $25.00 non NZIA members / Arch Students Free (limited spaces available)

Time: 4:00pm – 5:30pm

Participants: Amanda Yates Lecturer Massey University

Professor Dorita Hannah Massey University

Professor of Architecture Mike Austin UNITEC

Albert Refiti Senior Lecturer Spatial Design AUT

To Book: The Whiteboard Ltd / mail@thewhiteboard.co.nz / ph 04 4999550

The Dulux Futuna Lecture by Ric Leplastrier Architect (Australia) / 15 CPD points

Recipient of the Dreyer Foundation Prize 2009

http://www.ozetecture.org/oze_NEW_portfolio_richard.html

Cost: $25.00 NZIA members / $30.00 non NZIA members / $10.00 Arch Students (limited spaces available)

Time: 6:00pm to 7:30pm

To Book: The Whiteboard Ltd / mail@thewhiteboard.co.nz / ph 04 4999550

SUNDAY 20TH MARCH

Architects at Futuna / 25 CPD Points

Cost: $25.00 NZIA members / $30.00 non NZIA members / $10.00 Arch Students Free (limited spaces available)

Time: 9:30am registration and introductions, talks 10:00am to 1:00pm

Participants: Peter Beaven, Ian Athfield, Gerald Melling, David Mitchell, John Walsh (Communications Manager, NZIA)

To Book: The Whiteboard Ltd / mail@thewhiteboard.co.nz / ph 04 4999550

Public Open Day and Musical Performance

Cost: Koha

Time: 1:30pm to 4:30pm ( Music 2:00pm to 2:30pm)

Refreshments: Available for purchase Saturday and Sunday

Peter's selection of Futuna is timely, as the Futuna Trust is organising celebrations for the chapel's 50th anniversary in mid-March. Most importantly, the chapel will be open to the public on Sunday March 20, a terrific opportunity to see inside this fantastic structure. Here are the programme details (which are also available at http://www.futunatrust.org.nz/):

Kamaka pottery

Our current issue includes a feature on vases, and while we like everything stylist Trudie Kroef sourced for the shoot (the photographs were taken by Toaki Okano), a particular favourite is the vase in the centre of this image, designed by the late Estelle Martin of Hawke's Bay's Kamaka pottery (the vase on the left is by Jonathan Adler from Askew, while the yellow bowl at right is by Campbell Hegan from Masterworks).

Estelle and her husband Bruce travelled frequently to Japan in the 1970s, where they learned the art of wood-fired anagama pottery. Their work has won many national awards and featured in major exhibitions. Bruce still lives in the couple's Hawke's Bay home (designed by John Scott), where he sells works of his own and Estelle's, and writes this blog. We featured Bruce and Estelle's West Coast bach (also by John Scott) in the magazine's December/January 2010 issue, and on our blog at this link here. If you're in Hawke's Bay, Bruce's studio is a very special place to visit.

John Scott bach

One of my favourite houses in our current issue is the bach that the late John Scott designed for Bruce and Estelle Martin and their family near Hokitika (that's the model on Scott's original drawings in the image above). My parents live near Bruce and Estelle's house in Hawkes Bay, also designed by John Scott, and we often visited and bought pottery from them when I was a child. For me, John Scott's work has a magical combination of modesty and confidence, a quiet cleverness that is abundantly evident in the bach, which was photographed by Paul McCredie. Here's a view of the exterior:

And this is the living area upstairs:

This is a favourite shot of mine that we couldn't squeeze into the layout in the magazine. It has a beautiful stillness to it. It was taken on the ground floor of the bach, looking towards the stairwell.

Bruce and Estelle's son Craig Martin helped us a lot in producing our story about the bach. He also has an excellent website featuring many of John Scott's other works, which you should check out if you're interested. It is www.johnscott.net.nz. It's a fantastic resource for anyone curious about this hugely accomplished New Zealand architect.