08/09/2026
The Great Debate is back and bigger than ever for its 10th anniversary, with the moot 'It was better in the 1960s: Architecture then v architecture now.'
We’ve invited back several past participants, including John Worth (Crusty), engineer, winemaker, and raconteur from the inaugural year. Last year’s moderator, Wallace Chapman, returns, with debaters including writer Simon Wilson, Kim Paton from Objectspace, architectural practitioner Julianna Wilson, architect Michael O’Sullivan, and Professor Anthony Hōete.
We return this year to the site of the second debate in 2017, the Neon Lecture Theatre at the School of Engineering. And of course, the debate will be followed by the end of festival party in the foyer of the Neon Theatre.
Get your tickets in the nzia website or in our bio: https://events.humanitix.com/the-great-debate-architects-engineers-and-social-commentators
Wallace Chapman is Presenter on RNZs show The Panel. He has had a 30 year career in broadcast media - including 95bFM, 'Backbenches' 'Pub Politics' TV show & Radio Live. Likes walks on the beach and Steely Dan. Lives in Blockhouse Bay in a house with a bright red door.
Journalist Simon Wilson writes about politics, urban issues, climate change and culture. Formerly with NZ Herald and Metro, he now writes a Substack called Hopetown and a Listener column called City Desk.
Kim Paton has been the Director of Objectspace since 2015. Her interest is in exhibition making across the fields of architecture, craft and design. She has written extensively on design and object-based art forms and is co-author of the recently published book, Hook Hand Heart Star: Warwick Freeman.
John engineered many outrageous buildings and is currently a structural-engineer-in-exile pursuing lithium. He can typically be found pursuing the unknown last designs of the modernist masters.
Juliana Wilson is an architectural practitioner and Professional Teaching Fellow at Auckland University School of Architecture and Planning. She is a co-founder of A+W.NZ and founder of dirty laundry architecture a collaborative design research practice.
Michael John O’Sullivan is an Architect, Maker and Lecturer on New Zealand
