Athfield Architects by Julia Gatley looked at the way Ian Athfield and his team at Athfield Architects have reshaped New Zealand architecture. But what is it like to live in and own an iconic Athfield?

Manson House

Hugo Manson says, 'Delighted to see that the featured Athfield house in your catalogue is the one we built (the back bit with the upstairs and two chimneys I with my own hands). In fact I built one of these twice over with the aid of a squad of teenagers. First time it all had to come down because I got it wrong. After 40 years it's still a lovely – and practical – house.'

Logan House

Rachel Dickinson recalls, 'It took me about a month to stop tripping up the stairs, and it was 2 or 3 weeks before I remembered whether it was up or down to the kitchen. When I have friends over they usually end up lost trying to find the toilet, but my four cats love it. When I first moved in I was so inspired by the house that I wrote an orchestral piece of music dedicated to it. This house is magical, and I am truly fortunate to be part of its life.'

Buck House

John Buck, who launched the book in Wellington, told us, 'When we built our house in Havelock North the local authority was the now defunct Hawke’s Bay County Council. Ath came to Hawke’s Bay to lodge the plans for a permit, and while staying with Wendy mentioned that the house looked somewhat pristine in the drawings.
'Ath took his pen to them and added the boys bikes dropped outside the house, a giant TV aerial, rubbish bags with clouds of flies, and Jonathan, our eldest son, trapped in the toilet with a cartoon type caption reading “help, help let me get out!”

'On going to the council we discovered these were the only set of drawings we had on us, and so they had to be used for the permit application with the embellishments.

'Given that our three neighbours at the time objected to a house being built on the site and also submitted in their objection that Ath was not an appropriate Architect for Hawke’s Bay and that the Bucks were not appropriate residents, these drawings confirmed that but there was never a murmur from Council officialdom although the building inspector always laughed when he came on site!'