Sir Ian Athfield Memorial Lecture 2025 | Tāhuna Queenstown

Te Kāhui Whaihanga New Zealand Institute of Architects are excited to welcome Ian Moore to New Zealand to present this year’s lecture series ‘The Past Needs a Future’ which will focus on adaptive reuse.

Ian is the principal of Ian Moore Architects, established in 1990. The practice has won numerous Australian and international awards and has been published and exhibited widely, including at the Venice Architecture Biennale in 2008 and 2012.

Initially studying civil and structural engineering at the Auckland Technical Institute in New Zealand, Ian moved on to study architecture at the University of Technology, Sydney, graduating with honours in 1988.

Ian has taught at numerous universities and been a speaker and guest lecturer throughout Australia as well as internationally.

Ian has also been a member of awards juries in Australia, New Zealand and at the World Festival of Interiors in 2013 and the World Architecture Festival in 2015. In 2003, Ian was the inaugural Creative Director for the Australian Institute of Architects annual conference.

About the Sir Ian Athfield Memorial Lecture

The annual Sir Ian Athfield Memorial Lecture commemorates the late Ian Athfield, a singular and much-loved figure in New Zealand architecture.

Affectionately known as ‘Ath’, Ian was knighted in 2014 and was one of New Zealand’s most influential architects. He won more than 60 national and international architecture and design awards and the lecture series was established to honour his legacy and celebrate his larrikin spirit.

In keeping with that spirit, each year the lecture is given by a person with something to say – someone who is challenging orthodoxy and a business-as-usual approach to practice, and life.

During his career, Ath designed many significant buildings, none more so than his own home in Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington, which enraged the neighbours, perplexed the Council and inspired the city for decades.

Ath was talented, original, insightful, opinionated, provocative, and sometimes outrageous. His architecture is stimulating, challenging, ever-changing, but never careless.

In 2004, Te Kāhui Whaihanga New Zealand Institute of Architects awarded Ath the Gold Medal for career achievements, noting at the time “What defines Athfield above all is his contagious enthusiasm, his devotion to architecture, and his unswerving belief in its possibilities. Believing architecture to be a civilising force, he has demonstrated a strong commitment to architecture’s public realm: the streets we live in; the urban centres we inhabit; the countryside we love and so often abuse.”

The Sir Ian Athfield Lecture Series is proudly sponsored by Resene and GIB.

CPD points: 10

TIMING:

Doors open: 5.00pm

Lecture: 5.30pm - 6.30pm

Q&A: 6.30pm - 7.00pm

LECTURE DATES:

Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington | Wednesday 3 September | Michael Fowler Centre

Tāhuna Queenstown | Friday 5 September | Crowne Plaza

Whakatū Nelson | Tuesday 9 September | The Suter - Te Aratoi o Whakatū

Ōtautahi Christchurch | Wednesday 10 September | Black Box Theatre - Papa Hou

Heretaunga Hastings | Thursday 11 September | Toi Toi

Ngāmotu New Plymouth | Monday 15 September | Novotel

Kirikiriroa Hamilton | Tuesday 16 September | Bill Gallagher Centre

Tāmaki Makaurua Auckland | Thursday 18 September | TBC