Ewe can do it - architects accept challenge to design woolly hotel

Photo / Supplied

Architects from around the world arrive in New Zealand tomorrow to join a project aimed at boosting the demand for wool.

The 13 architects - from the US, Germany, Japan, UK, Spain, Netherlands, Belgium and Denmark- will be joined by a New Zealand architect to take part in a challenge to design a concept hotel complex, which would incorporate wool in every possible respect.

The project was conceived by German-based AIT Online architecture magazine and would be hosted by the National Council of New Zealand Wool Interests.

National Council chairman Stephen Fookes said the project wanted to raise the profile of wool as an interior textile, "or re-introduce it as an interior textile, create awareness and increase the demand of New Zealand wool as an interior textile not only into existing areas where it traditionally fits but new areas as well."

Architects will work in small groups on specific areas of the concept hotel with a presentation in Christchurch on Tuesday.

A book of the detailed work would be presented at international trade fairs and architectural conferences.

"There are a large number [architects] who know very little about wool," Fookes said. "We meet architects who don't know about the characteristics of wool. So it's a high degree of generic promotion as much as anything."

The New Zealand wool industry would provide the majority of the funding, around $200,000, through the National Council.