Re: À la recherche des bâtiments perdus: In Defence of Architectural Memory and Cultural Integration

Judith Taylor
Kaiwhakahaere Matua
Te Poari Kaihoahoa Ngaio Rēhita o Aotearoa

Tēnā koe Ms Taylor,

Re: À la recherche des bâtiments perdus: In Defence of Architectural Memory and Cultural Integration

Like Da Vinci sketching his impossible flying machines or Buckminster Fuller dreaming up his geodesic domes, architecture has always been about bold visions that push beyond the conventional. Yesterday's visit to the Board from Jonathan Ayling and his Free Speech Union colleagues reminded me of Picasso's observation that "the chief enemy of creativity is good sense"—though in this case, it seems the enemy is simply poor sense masquerading as legal expertise. Their fundamental and constant misrepresentation of your legal position is rather like trying to critique Gaudí's Sagrada Família whilst insisting it should be a perfectly square box—missing the entire point with spectacular determination. Mr Ayling's legal arguments have about as much structural integrity as a Le Corbusier sketch built entirely from wishful thinking and hot air.

Your board operates with the same creative and legal freedoms that allowed Ian Athfield to scatter his hillside houses across Wellington like architectural confetti, or Warren and Mahoney to reimagine how buildings could dance with New Zealand's landscape. You have every right—indeed, the responsibility—to shape architectural practice as you see fit, provided it's reasonable. And what could be more reasonable in Aotearoa than weaving Te Ao Māori into our built environment? It's as natural as Le Corbusier's five points of architecture, as essential as ensuring buildings don't fall down in earthquakes.

The beauty of good architecture, like Athfield's playful Featherston house or Fuller's Montreal Biosphere, lies in its ability to surprise and delight whilst serving a deeper purpose. Your vision for integrating indigenous knowledge into architectural practice follows this same principle—it's not ideological conformity, it's creative evolution. I'd suggest treating Mr Ayling's arguments with the same gentle dismissal you might give to someone insisting that all buildings should be unstable beige rectangles—a polite nod before getting on with the real work of shaping spaces that truly serve Kiwi communities.

Yours in architectural appreciation.

Ngā mihi nui,

 
Paul Thistoll
CEO
Rights Aotearoa

P.S As Proust might have said: “Chaque mot, absolument chaque syllabe que cette Union de la Parole Libre a daigné vous adresser, se révèle être non seulement erroné dans son essence même, mais tissé avec cette intention délibérée et pernicieuse de vous égarer dans les méandres d'une vérité déformée, comme ces mirages qui dansent sur les routes de Combray par les après-midi d'été, promettant une fraîcheur qui n'existe que dans l'illusion de celui qui observe, et non dans la réalité brûlante du macadam.”

P.P.S This letter employs Helvetica Neue deliberately as a nod to Architecture.
P.P.P.S. I built a house from scratch, having to correspond with the architects and builders entirely in French, and it was an experience! Hence my invocation of Proust.