Top Students Travel to Sydney

In February NZIA Graphisoft Student Design Award winner Simon Harrison (of Victoria University of Wellington) and highly commended Sebastian Hamilton and Barrington Gohns (of the University of Auckland) headed to Sydney to get a taste of the architectural world across the Tasman, on a trip organised by the NZIA as part of their prize.

The trio’s first day in Sydney kicked off with a practice visit to Richard Francis-Jones and the Museum of Contemporary Art, followed by a Sydney Architecture Walk around the CBD, which took them to the Opera House and buildings by Harry Seidler, Foster & Associates and Renzo Piano.

Discussions about urban design issues followed during a visit with leading urban designer Phil Thalis of Phil Thalis Architects, who won the original design competition to redevelop Barangaroo (a waterfront site in the CBD considered one of the most valuable city sites in Australia).

The group also visited Richard Goodwin (below) – an architect who made quite an impact at the NZIA’s 2009 CPD Days and with our top students - at his studio in the Italian suburb of Leichhardt; Tone Wheeler at Enviro Studio; Marcus Trimble of Super Colossal; and Richard Johnson at Johnson Pilton Walker.

Site visits included the Law School at Sydney University; a clutch of award-winning projects on the Northern Beaches (including work by Peter Stutchbury) in the company of Lindsay Johnson; and, following dinner in a Kings Cross restaurant, a tour of the new building it is housed in, designed by Durbach Block.

Hamilton and Gohns also had the opportunity to present and discuss their final year project to a group of PhD students studying at the Sydney University of Technology.

The trip was capped off with a meeting with Glenn Murcutt at his Mosman home.

The students were accompanied by Tobias Danielmeier from Victoria University, who said [this] “has been a very inspirational and educating trip for the students and myself, and provided us with plenty of opportunities to discuss and debate with our Australian peers.”


Harrison won the top prize in the NZIA Graphisoft Student Design Award, which in addition to the trip to Sydney earned him a cheque for $5000, with his final year design for a ‘neighbourly’ high rise building. Hamilton and Gohns won the two highly commended awards for a joint project on ‘interactive’ architecture. The judging panel was made up of NZIA President Richard Harris of Jasmax; Dr Kirsten Orr, Senior Lecturer and Associate Head, School of Architecture, University of Technology, Sydney; and architect Thom Craig of Thom Craig Architects.

Simon Harrison is currently setting up his own practice in Hamilton, Barrington Gohns is with Warren & Mahoney and Sebastian Hamilton is working on some architectural projects.

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