Solid foundations

As a boy growing up in New Plymouth, Richard Naish commandeered the dining table in his parents Lockwood house and filled it with the imaginative construction of a roller coaster made of balsa wood.

His ideas didn't come from any sort of kitset but rather from the problem-solving skills of his young mind. "I've always been interested in the practical side of space and innovation," he says, "so becoming an architect was an easy decision. I never had any doubts."

Those must have come later when, as a graduate, with an architectural degree under his arm, he found it near impossible to get a job. "It was 1990, a recession - so I spent most of the year playing darts and drinking tea." Richard finally convinced the talent scouts at Jasmax he was the one to employ - and his career path ever since has been pretty much meticulously planned and paved.

In 1999, he started RTA Studio, an award-winning firm that last year scooped a highly commended at the World Architecture Festival held in Barcelona for their Karangahape Road office block Ironbank.

Married with three children, and building his first home in the suburb of Grey Lynn in which, he says, "we are pushing the boundaries as far as we can", Viva spoke to Richard about the favourite things in his life.

Favourite things

Black painting by Ralph Hotere

Ralph Hotere is my father-in-law. He gave us a black lacquer painting from a series he did in the 70s as a wedding gift. It's a tall, skinny work with lots of straight vertical lines and its frame is made from an old totara fence post, all rustic and weathered. I love the contrast of the frame with the beautiful glossiness of the paint.

Barry Brickell ceramics

I'd love to get one of Barry's tall sculptural pieces for our new garden. I have a jug and salad bowl with a salt glaze already - but that's in storage. I admire Barry's holistic, sustainable view of life. He built his miniature railway on his land in Coromandel so that he could access the clay further up the hill for potting. He chopped down the exotics and used them to fire his kilns and has regenerated the area in natives. Plus he's unstoppably inventive and contagiously passionate. He's in his seventies but still such a talented artist, he just keeps going. He's an accidental national treasure.

St Peter's College Technology Building

Designed by Architectus, I like its simplicity and the way it works on a number of levels. It's an aggregate box that looks a bit like the asphalt of the motorway it stands beside. The white cross subtly references the fact it is in a Catholic school. I think it is nicely proportioned and sculptural - it offers protection to human beings in one of the most challenging and inhospitable zones (right on the edge of a motorway).

Sketchbook from my OE

I was given this book with its tapa-cloth cover as a leaving present from Jasmax. It was the days before digital photography and I made the decision to limit myself to only four slide films for a six-month trip. That forced me to stop and sketch. There's something special about drawing - it's a memory engraver; when I look at each sketch I can remember the day, exactly where I was sitting, and who I spoke to. I travelled through North Africa, the Middle East and Europe but, to me, Morocco was a stand-out. I found the mix of Portuguese and French influence with the African tribes fascinating. Plus the landscape ranged from the Sahara to some of the highest mountains in Africa.

Audi A5 Sportback

Cars are like houses in that they are objects we inhabit and use on a daily basis and their aesthetic beauty rises out of functionality. The Audi A5 Sportback is a highly considered design piece - and a great performer. It's perfect for me as it has a look that echoes the classic sports car but it's a four-door family saloon.

Fraser, the family dog

When I met my wife Andrea, Fraser was a fresh puppy. He's a black labrador and border collie cross and he's 15 years old now (that's 105 in dog years) so he's going a bit grey around the chops. He's an obsessive stick chaser and stone diver and should have been a working dog. The border collie side of him is very strong. He loves exercise and brain games.

Sheyne Tuffery art

Sheyne is an old mate of mine, a Samoan artist and printmaker who now has his own gallery in Wellington. I like his witty take on New Zealand's Pacific lifestyle and culture. I have a limited edition print of his in my office entitled Future Fales. It's his utopian view of a fale city with references to the Pantheon. But his latest work depicts birds and penguins.

Weathering steel

I love building with materials such as concrete, where the natural patina comes across through time. I liken it to a well-loved pair of shoes which the sun and rain changes. Weathering steel is an alloy, and contains additives such as copper that accelerate the rusting process. The rust eventually forms a crust that, at a certain thickness, becomes impervious to water. The beauty of it is that it's a self-sealing system. At first you get a lot of rusty water dripping down like crazy but, after three to six months, the product is stabilised.

Photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson

This French photographer was famous for his concept of "the decisive moment". He was working in the late 1800s with a Leica Rangefinder and just one lens. He was a purist technician who only printed whatever was in the viewfinder, no cropping or doctoring involved. He had an intuitive skill for capturing the decisive moment which, in these days of motor drives, is easier to do but doing it then was pretty amazing. One of his famous photos, taken on VJ Day, is of a boy with a big smile on his face coming back home with the celebratory wine. I also like the slice of life photo of a man jumping off a ladder on a flooded surface. Cartier clicked the shutter just as the man's foot was about to touch the water.

Ethiopian book

Ethiopia is a country surrounded by Islamic cultures - however they are a society based around the Coptic Church, an ancient Christian church of the Middle East. They believe the Queen of Sheba came to Ethiopia with the Holy Grail and it is purported to be kept in a church near Axum in the north, constantly guarded by monks. It's real Indiana Jones territory - not many Europeans travel through there - and it's where I swapped my pup tent for a beautiful handmade book with goatskin pages and wooden covers. I think it is an ancient prayer book of some sort.

Peter Zumpthor's St Benedict's Chapel, Switzerland

This teardrop-shaped chapel that seats 50 people maximum is set in a village amid quintessential Heidi country. It sits high in a valley with incredible views. Yet when you enter the chapel, through the "tail" of the teardrop, you are instantly taken out of this massive expanse of landscape into a beautiful interior where you are denied the view. The architect, Peter Zumpthor, was a trained furniture maker and it shows in the craftsmanship inside. It may not have the size and grandeur of the Louvre but it's a very powerful project.

Karangahape Rd

A place that I keep coming back to.

I've spent a lot of time there since I was a student at Auckland University. I love its grittiness and that it has its own character and style and hasn't been gentrified like Ponsonby Rd and

Parnell. It's a place that supports art dealers, prostitutes - and everything in between. It's somewhere that everyone, if they are willing, can feel comfortable in.