Kaleidoscope - Architectural Resorts

For this 1987 Kaleidoscope report, architectural commentator Mark Wigley uses Kiwi resort towns as fuel for an essay on local architecture. He visits Waitangi, arguing that Aotearoa should have followed the "rich ornamental example" of the Whare Rūnanga, instead of the restraint of the Treaty House. He praises Paihia’s "cacophony of bad taste" motels. In part two, he compares Queenstown and Arrowtown, and admires a gold dredge and the Skyline gondola. Wigley, then starting his academic career in the United States, would become an internationally acclaimed architectural theorist.

Nothing is allowed to stand out so everything looks the same.

– Mark Wigley, on height restrictions in Queenstown

Key Cast & Crew

Roger Price

Director

Denis Harvey

Producer

John A Givins

Producer

Roger Wallan

Technical Producer

Ian Masterton

Sound Recordist

Bruce Adams

Sound Recordist