Te Kāhui Whaihanga New Zealand Institute of Architects and The Warren Trust are delighted to announce the three judges for this year’s Awards for Architectural Writing.

They are: Dr Karamia Müller, Alex Casey and Cameron Ah Loo-Matamua.

Karamia is a Pacific scholar specialising in Pacific space concepts. Currently a lecturer at the School of Architecture and Planning, Faculty of Creative Arts and Industries at the University of Auckland, she is also a Co-Director of MĀPIHI, a University Research Centre for Māori and Pacific Housing. She contributes to Architecture New Zealand as an opinion columnist, and her exhibition ‘Creation Stories’ a collaboration with Berlin based artist Simon Denny is currently on at the Gus Fisher Gallery.

Alex Casey is a senior writer at The Spinoff who writes about everything from social issues to reality television. Her writing has previously appeared in magazines such as Metro, North and South and Go Natural, New Zealand’s leading naturist magazine. She co-hosted Three series The Spinoff TV in 2018 and feminist webseries On the Rag in 2019 and 2020. She lives in Tāmaki Makaurau with her partner and her anxious cat.

Cameron Ah Loo-Matamua is an independent writer, curator and educator based in Tāmaki Makaurau. They are currently a contributing writer to Artforum International for the New Zealand region, as well as contributing to other leading arts publications nationally and internationally. Previously Curator of St Paul St Gallery, AUT, they now work as an independent curator with a focus on supporting emerging Māori, Pacific and queer practitioners.

The Warren Trust Awards for Architectural Writing are a joint venture between The Warren Trust and Te Kāhui Whaihanga and started in 2015.

This year’s awards are even more poignant given the recent passing Sir Miles Warren. The Warren Trust was established in 2006 and over the last decade has given more than $1.4 million to promote architectural education to both the architectural profession and the wider public in New Zealand.

Like last year, this year’s competition will include essay writing, but entries can also be made in the form of poetry and fiction to comics, creative non-fiction and humour.

The writing topic for this year is simple: What does architecture mean to you? You can write anything on this subject, so long as it has something to do with architecture.

That might include answering questions such as:

• What emotions do you feel when looking at, reading about or discussing architecture?
• What is your favourite piece of architecture and why?
• What do you believe makes great architecture?
• Does architecture mean sustainability alongside great design?
• What role can great architecture play in our growing towns and cities?

Finally, we will publish a book of winning and highly commended essays for people to collect and share. The essays will be published online, and may be syndicated to external media partners, depending on their subject matter.

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