In the year we’re having, it seems appropriate for the second series of Designing Dreams to launch with a profile of Dave Strachan, the Auckland-based architect with a personal maxim about designing houses to respond to the environment – and the climate – around them.
“We want buildings that live and breathe for the people who live in them, but also to deal with the climate they’re in,” Strachan tells host Matthew Ridge at the beginning of the episode. “I’ve always felt that architecture is not about monument building – it’s about people and place.”
The houses he presents – three of his own and three he’s inspired by – illustrate his philosophy in what may be the most coherent episode of the series so far. There’s a house nestled amid pōhutukawa at Piha, conceived so that “it’s talking back to the trees”, and a guest house by Pete Bossley in the Bay of Islands that adapts the ubiquitous “shed” concept into a structure that glides down a hill and offers a choice of outdoor spaces depending on where the wind is blowing.
But perhaps the most intriguing is Strachan’s family home, which reimagines its site on a busy stretch of Auckland’s Mt Eden Rd – by turning its back on the road. It was not an obvious design decision.
“Yeah, but he’s not an obvious guy,” says Ridge. “You kind of expect that from him. He’s a lot of fun to be around, Dave. All the architects were, but him especially. He’s 71 and he plays in a rock’n’roll band. He’s just got a good vibe.”
This season also profiles the work and inspirations of Sally Ogle, Stacey Farrell, Anthony Hoete, Rafe Maclean and Hugh Tennent. Everyone, says Ridge, has become “what I would consider a friend that I could ring up and say, ‘Let’s go and have a cup of tea.’”
Designing Dreams producer Mark Everton credits Ridge with an ease on camera that transfers to his subjects. The result is a more interesting, even intellectual, show than might have been expected from its genre – although some people took convincing that Ridge was a suitable presenter when it launched.
“Yeah, it’s funny how people put you in a box,” Ridge says. “I did a television show that was pretty laddie stuff, sending ourselves up. But I don’t do a lot of talking in this one. I just try to let the architects do the talking – I’ve found that’s actually quite a skill – and then once they get going, you get to see who they are.
“I do enjoy housing shows and that sort of stuff. But with this particular show, you get to see six or seven different homes or buildings that are all finished and there’s not this palaver about having to build something and all the drama that goes on.
“Some of the places that we’ve been able to go into just blow your mind. And everyone can see how the other half lives, but also how normal people live as well. You don’t have to be really rich to have an architect design your house. That’s been the nice thing about the show. I think architecture’s for everybody and I think it’s accessible for everybody on some level.”
Designing Dreams, Prime, Mondays from August 14, 8.30pm
