New Zealand Architecture

It's well known that New Zealand is a beautiful country, full of contrasting scenery. Its use as a location for the Lord of the Rings trilogy of films has made it even more popular as a holiday destination. New Zealand architecture may be less well known outside of the country. The built environment is a fascinating insight into the culture of the people. Today's architects and designers have produced imaginative buildings that fit into the stunning landscape.

There are several books on the market that address this subject with colorful illustrations and informative text. Professionals, students and anyone with an interest in New Zealand architecture will enjoy the content. New New Zealand Houses is compiled by Patrick Reynolds and John Walsh. There are sections on 25 contemporary houses and the text looks at the challenges facing architects of today. Reynolds is a respected architectural photographer and Walsh is an architecture magazine editor.

Architecture Uncooked: An Architect Looks Around New Zealand Holiday Houses is by Pip Cheshire, in which she comments on seven holiday homes. The photographs are, once again, provided by Patrick Reynolds. The seven homes range from a humble mountain hut in the Southern Alps to the houses in Northland Bay. Architecture: Inspired by New Zealand is by Amanda Hyde de Krester and David Sullivan. This is a New Zealand architecture book for the connoisseur with panoramic landscape photography and floor plans for each building. The projects under discussion are by the country's leading architects and the book looks at what residential homes add to the landscape.

Holidaymakers to this part of the world may be familiar with the beach front property and will enjoy Beach Houses of Australia and New Zealand 2, the second volume, by Stephen Crafti. Some of these properties are situated in bushland and scrub. They may be timber shacks or luxury homes. Whatever their design, there is more freedom from planning constraints than in the cities or suburbs, so they are by nature, individual designs.

Museum, Gallery and Cultural Architecture in Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Region: Essays in Antipodean Identity is an ambitious work, edited by Michael J. Ostwald and Steven D. Fleming. The book comprises of nine critical essays by writers and thinkers on architecture in the region. Famous buildings are considered and the essays discuss what they have in common and how they contribute to the cultural identity of the area they are in. The pieces are mostly contemporary, the most iconic being the Sydney Opera House. Important museums, art galleries and cultural institutions are featured and urban design in general is examined.

Author Peter Shaw and illustrator and photographer Robin Morrison have produced New Zealand Architecture, a study of the history of different architectural styles in the country and the leading architects responsible. The book traces the early Maori construction through Gothic, Victorian, Neo-Classical, Edwardian, the Arts and Crafts movement and the 1980s.