From the 1960s until his early death in 1994, the New Zealand architect Claude Megson forged a significant body of experimental houses — typically abstract and fantastical, they could seem almost unfathomable in their complexity. In those years, his work was discussed alongside that of fellow young architects Ian Athfield, Peter Beaven, John Scott and Roger Walker. As a teacher, he influenced generations of architects who studied at the Auckland School of Architecture.
Thirty years on from his death, the handsome new book Claude Megson: Architect, published by Massey University Press in April, explains why he was so highly regarded in his lifetime. Its 424 beautiful pages are a many-year labour of love by architect-writer Giles Reid and photographer Jackie Meiring.
Reid was a student of Megson’s at the architecture school at the University of Auckland, and remembers his lectures as being ‘truly monumental’. Later, Reid selected Megson as his thesis topic, and his fascination with his work has been undiminished since.
Reid spent years tracking down houses Megson had designed. In the early stages he resorted to searching electoral rolls, and writing to the addresses he found. Almost every owner replied, inviting him to visit and often pointing him to other possible leads. Those visits led him to clients, relatives, friends, employees, and even contractors.
In 2017 Reid enlisted his friend Chad McMan, who spent months in the University of Auckland Architecture Archive photographing every Megson drawing held there — well over a thousand — making it possible for Reid, who is today based in London, to study the entire archive, and Megson’s incredible drawings, in depth.
There are 150 in the book, including concept sketches, technical plans, perspectives and drawings in pencil, ink and crayon. ‘This is where Claude’s voice comes alive,’ Giles Reid says. ‘The photos and text offer one view of his work, but his own drawings let his expression come through. Claude was a supremely gifted draftsperson, and it’s remarkable that so many of his drawings have survived and been preserved.’
By 2024, when the publishing production work on this book began in earnest, Reid and the well-known architecture photographer Jackie Meiring had tracked down and photographed 33 projects, a mixture of surviving buildings and unbuilt projects. Meiring’s images range across stark black-and-white abstracts, vibrant colour images, quiet intimate scenes and even shots that hint at subtle irony. ‘To me, this is the most important part of the book,’ Reid says. ‘The photographs capture a spectrum of atmospheres and tones, aiming to reflect lived reality rather than present everything in one uniform, detached style.’
Claude Megson’s legacy has been newly appreciated in recent years and so this book could not be more timely. A rich, rewarding resource that has been painstakingly researched and photographed and exquisitely designed, it is the next must- have for all interested in New Zealand architecture.
Claude Megson: Architect is on sale nationwide from 9 April, 2026.
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