Cape to Bluff Launch at ECC

The launch of the Cape to Bluff at ECC’s Auckland showroom on 5 April 2023 was a fantastic night, attended by 170 guests. Thanks to everyone who supported the book and enjoyed ECC’s huge hospitality!

This book project was a creative partnership between photographer Simon Devitt, writer Andrea Stevens and designer Luke Scott. Luke and Andrea each have a long history of collaboration with Simon.

Simon and Luke created the Ripe Fruit series (amongst other projects) – moody and thoughtful photo books of well-known figures in art and architecture.

Simon and Andrea worked with Bill McKay on the Penguin state house book Beyond the State, amongst hundreds of architecture stories for Habitus and Indesign, across residential and commercial projects over 15 years.

For this latest project Cape to Bluff, a self-publishing model was chosen to give an open brief and creative licence, enabling the production of a book that is more conceptual and poetic than a commercial model might stretch to.

The selection of projects range from large, multi-generational houses to two-bedroom baches for holidays and weekends. Aotearoa New Zealand doesn’t have the bright tropical colours of it’s Pacific neighbours. The native birds and flowers are more understated and the architecture feels much the same.

Even the largest of these buildings is broken down into a collection of smaller dwellings. They are often low slung, made of materials that weather naturally, many feature industrial detailing, and they all let the landscape be the subject and purpose of the house.

To do the landscape justice, the book has been as large as dared. This invites the reader to enjoy its generous pages and get a fuller sense for how the architects have crafted these buildings to be sensitive to place, people, and the environment.

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Sponsors: ECC, Fisher & Paykel, Resene, The Warren Trust, Peter Fell, Terra Lana, and Rosenfeld Kidson & Co.

Architects featured: Anna-Marie Chin, Pac Studio x Steven Lloyd Architecture, Assembly Architects, Architectus, Athfield Architects, Belinda George, Bergendy Cooke, Bossley Architects, Bureaux, Crosson Architects, Daniel Marshall Architects, EMA Architects, Julian Guthrie, Mason & Wales Architects, Megan Edwards Architects, Nott Architects, Gerald Parsonson Architects, Patchwork Architecture, Patterson, PRau, Rafe Maclean, Tom Rowe, RTA Studio, Strachan Group Architects, Stacey Farrell, Stevens Lawson Architects, Studio2 Architects, Sumich Chaplin Architects, and Vaughn McQuarrie Architects.

Credit: Images of the book launch were taken by Auckland photographer Elliot MacDonald.