Well known Wellington architect Gus Watt recently traveled to Cuba, here are his thoughts of a memorable visit.

The article below was recently published in The Press (via Stuff.co.nz) regarding the recent bulk tender for the Christchurch rebuild.

The value of consents issued for all buildings in June 2012 was $712 million, up 19% on last year, led by the South Island and Wellington.

Statistics New Zealand today released the May Building Consent figures, and the total value of residential building consents rose 37 percent to $532 million for May 2012. 

New Zealand's biggest online specifier survey was conducted by EBOSS over the month of May, with a total of 1,322 respondents.

Designed to blend into its surroundings so as not to ruin the view, Treehotel in Sweden is now making its glassed tree-top hotel room, Mirrorcube, available for mail order purchase.

UK-based Duke Studios has created ten studio offices constructed from a building material that's strong yet fully sustainable and recyclable.

Residential building consents are up from 2011 levels, however March's growth is tempered with a reduction in consents in April, even as demand increased for new housing in the country's biggest city, Auckland.

Have you ever wanted to take your SketchUp models on the go?

A simpler system for timber treatment has recently been introduced by the Department of Building and Housing and is summarised in a Quick Guide to Timber Treatment for Enclosed Framing.