CITY TALKS: Chris Moller with Tommy Honey

CITY TALKS: Chris Moller with Tommy Honey

Grand Designs: Beyond the Camera
City Gallery Wellington, Civic Square
Monday 11 April, 6pm
Free entry

Can an imported reality TV model serve serious discussion about New Zealand architecture? This is one of the questions Tommy Honey will pose to Chris Moller, architect and front-person for local TV series Grand Designs New Zealand in the latest City Talks event at City Gallery Wellington on Monday 11 April.

Grand Designs New Zealand is a variant of the popular UK series fronted by Kevin McCloud. Like McCloud, Moller is a practicing architect with strong beliefs about the value of good architecture. His series has succeeded locally because of Moller’s belief in the underlying importance of the impact buildings have on people. He says, “Architecture has a deep influence on us; it shapes the way we live, how we feel, our health and wellbeing. It also has a deep influence on the planet. Grand Designs New Zealand is the perfect opportunity to bring the importance of good architecture and the huge benefits it can generate to a broad audience.”

City Talks is an ongoing series initiated by the New Zealand Institute of Architects Wellington Branch and presented in partnership with City Gallery Wellington. Its purpose is to foster discussion about architecture for a broader audience in a city that cares about urbanity.

Chris Moller is a NZ trained and UK registered Architect and Urbanist with experience in New Zealand, United Kingdom, Hong Kong, and the Netherlands. He is the founding Director of CMA+U, Deputy Chair & Board member of PrefabNZ, Regional Advisor for Phaidon Publications Architecture Atlas of 21st Century Architecture and winner of numerous awards and international competitions.

Tommy Honey is a director, designer, educator, critic, cultural commentator and occasional architect. He graduated from Auckland University School of Architecture in 1986 and has worked as an architect, theatre designer and director, and taught architecture, theatre and design at several Wellington Institutions. He was the director of the New Zealand Film and Television School for eight years and is now Dean at Whitecliffe College of Arts. He writes regularly for design publications and is the resident urbanist on Radio New Zealand’s Nine-to-Noon.

The talk will be followed by refreshments.

ENDS

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