The partnership
He welcomed Signature Homes to the School on 18 June 2026 to launch a partnership he had been working towards for some time. The premise, as he put it, is simple and serious: students are asked to reimagine what a New Zealand home can be. Not a tidied up version of the house the country has built for forty years, but a rethink of the materials used, the way people live and who homes are actually for. Affordability, sustainability and wellbeing are not optional themes; they are the brief.
Through Signature Homes’ The Future of Home challenge, two students will have their Master of Architecture (Professional) supported for up to two years as they move towards accreditation. The process is public: students develop their concepts, the concepts are rendered and exhibited, and the public votes for the designs that resonate most.
The most interesting part of the work starts now, and it belongs to our students.
His launch announcement, LinkedIn
Why it matters
New Zealand’s housing problem is partly a design problem. Much new housing repeats familiar types at rising cost, and the alternatives, medium density homes, new materials, homes designed for changing households, are slow to reach the market. A partnership with a national builder puts student thinking in front of a company that builds at scale, and puts the public in the position of judging what they want.
For students, the scholarship support is substantial: two years of a professional master’s degree is a significant financial commitment, and the challenge offers a route through it tied to real industry engagement. He thanked Kim Harris and the Signature Homes team, and his colleagues in the School, especially Janie van Woerden.
A public process
Inviting the public to vote on student designs turns a scholarship competition into a public conversation about what homes should be. It gives students the experience of presenting ideas to non specialists, and it gives the industry partner evidence of what the market finds compelling. For the School, it makes architectural education visible beyond the university.