“When I entered architecture school my grandfather was ninety,” writes the architect in Patterson: Houses of Aotearoa, a survey of 14 projects. “His hobby was translating Latin. I asked him about the ancient Roman tests for good architecture, as written by the architect Vitruvius: ‘firmitas, utilitas, venustas’, typically translated as ‘firmness, utility, delight’.
“He told me that venustas was not the word for delight or beauty per se, but rather the word used specifically for the delight of the natural world. Architecture needs to be beautiful in the same way that the natural environment is beautiful.”
Fittingly, this is a beautiful book, large and weighty, with more than 200 images. There are some surprising omissions and some beautiful reminders, including his first commission, at Karekare, back in 1986. It’s a reminder of the daring of his designs, and…