twenty one to twenty eight
This period included some travel, work in a variety of jobs to pay for study, completion of my architectural degree and marriage.
I opted for the "brick" studio at Auckland University Architecture School. This was a more free flowing and less structured environment than other studios, focussed on creativity. The class of 83 meets annually for reunions.
My final year thesis was about an aspect of the work of architect Walter Segal (1907–1985). He was an architect who developed a system of self-build social housing, the Segal self-build method. Based on a prefabricated timber frame method it eliminates the need for wet trades such as bricklaying and plastering, resulting in a light-weight method which can be built with minimal experience and is ecologically sound.
The thesis included building a section of the system and testing its performance in a rig that modelled the effects of wind driven rain. My conclusion was that the Segal system was not significantly better than standard NZ timber framing.
The work did stand me in good stead later in my career, as I was more aware of the effects of wind driven rain than others, and this enabled me to avoid issues with leaky buildings, as a result of design decisions.