Resene Sir Ian Athfield Memorial Lecture 2024 | Wellington

Te Kāhui Whaihanga welcomes this year’s presenter Sebastián Irarrázaval.

Following his architecture studies in Chile and London, Sebastián Irarrázaval established his eponymous practice in Santiago in 1993. An architect and educator, he teaches at the School of Architecture of the Catholic University of Chile and has been a visiting professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Università Iuav di Venezia and Politecnico di Milano.

Through his practice, Sebastián works across civic, commercial, residential and education projects, often at scale. His design philosophy encompasses the three pillars of care, connection and repetition.

In 2018, Sebastián was awarded by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) as an International Fellow. This lifetime honour is conferred to individuals whose work captures the spirit of their homeland yet transcends it to become international in influence.

About the Sir Ian Athfield Memorial Lecture

The annual Resene 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 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.

DATES

- Tuesday 24 September | James Hay Theatre, 86 Kilmore Street

- Wednesday 25 September | Embassy Theatre, 10 Kent Terrace

- Thursday 26 September | Auckland Town Hall

A ll events run from 5:30pm - 6.30pm with doors opening at 5:00pm.

The lecture will be filmed and available to view on our website post-event.

Host or Publisher New Zealand Institute of Architects