Student Profiles - Architecture
On this page:
- Grace Mills, undergraduate
- Kelly Clark, recent graduate
- Mike Hannaway, architecture and building science graduate
Grace Mills
Design project by Grace Mills.
Fourth-year Architecture student
When Grace finished high school she wanted to move cities for university, and so left her native Wellington for life in Dunedin. However, after being away from home, the desire to pursue architecture drew her back to Wellington.
“Architecture stayed on my mind the entire year—so I had to try it out,” she says. “And Wellington seemed the best place for it. With its abundance of interesting architecture and its vibrant atmosphere, Wellington is a fabulous environment in which to get your first architectural bearings,” she says.
Grace also says the School of Architecture held a special attraction: “I had been to various final-year exhibitions at the School, and I very much liked the feel of it and the variety and artistic approach of the projects.”
She’s happy she made the move: “The programme is extremely wide in scope—it covers history, theory, design, mathematics and physics and almost anything else you want it to incorporate. I have benefitted hugely from both the practical and more theoretical aspects of the degree.”
Kelly Clark
Design project by Kelly Clark.
Recent Master of Architecture (Professional) graduate
After finishing high school Kelly was ready for a new challenge, so he decided to leave his hometown of Christchurch and move to Wellington to study Architecture at Victoria.
"The competitive environment meant that I was pushed hard, so I learnt a lot more than I would have in a more laid-back atmosphere".
"Wellington’s a great city to live in, especially for a student," he says.
During his studies at Victoria Kelly received the bonded merit scholarship based on first-year grades, the Stephenson & Turner Award, and the NZIA Graphisoft Award for top fourth-year Architecture student.
His advice for first-year students is: "Pause and think carefully about what you are going to do for a project, as you have to inject a lot of effort into it. Further to this, do what you want to do and stick to your guns."
Mike Hannaway
Mike Hannaway outside Government House, Wellington.
Architecture and Building Science graduate
When Mike Hannaway graduated in 1987 the share market had just crashed, similar to the economic issues facing the world today. He was fortunate to get a job with a small Wellington architecture firm. Mike was given a lot of responsibility for project supervision and working in a small practice was a fabulous way of learning. He really enjoyed being on building sites, understanding problems and solving them.
After working as an architect for more than 10 years Mike found that he really enjoyed ‘making projects happen’ rather than responding to the direction of others, be they clients or other consultants.
The industry was maturing and a new participant was gaining more prominence—the project manager. It was the project manager that was becoming the influencer and the people taking this role were often engineers or quantity surveyors. Mike thought architects should be good at this.
At this time Mike remodelled his career to become a project manager: “I was doing a lot of the same things I did before, just a little differently,” he says. He worked for a firm managing a lot of small projects before taking a project management role where he started to work on some large projects as a development planner. This involved finding a site, market analysis, design management, and business case and feasibility planning.
“After six years heading in this direction it was ironic that my architecture background won me the opportunity to work on some really great projects. I was the project manager for Waitangi Park in Wellington, the largest urban park in New Zealand. I got this role because the project had a focus on producing a high-quality outcome and the client wanted a project manager who was able to appreciate and relate to this objective and work with the designers to achieve it,” Mike says.
Mike’s current role as a senior project manager for the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet involves managing the conservation of Government House: “This project is fascinating and has really enabled me to ‘make a project happen’. When we started four years ago the Department knew they had to so something but weren’t sure what,” Mike says. His role has been to actively guide the project in obtaining approval and sourcing funding.
Mike is attracted to architecture and the building industry because “you can really gain a sense of achievement, you are putting things in place”. “My last two projects will long outlive me,” he says.