Leah Crisp | McCall MacBain Foundation Kupe Leadership Scholar

Master of Arts - Museums & Cultural Heritage

The next ten years will be the ‘make or break’ for heritage buildings in Aotearoa New Zealand. Earthquake-strengthening requirements can only be pushed out for so long, and when delaying is no longer an option, New Zealand’s small towns and cities will be disproportionately impacted. However, it’s not just earthquakes and strengthening requirements that are a threat to our heritage, but the misconceptions around heritage restoration rules, which are just as damaging to their survival. In order to combat these misconceptions, and revitalise New Zealand’s heritage building landscape, I believe that our heritage buildings need a face and a voice, to bring them — and their interiors — into the hearts and minds of everyday New Zealanders. An engaging, ambitious, driven, determined and passionate ambassador, that can show New Zealand the enormous potential that these buildings can offer, and ensure they are preserved for future generations. My goal is to be that person.

Sponsor: McCall MacBain Foundation

Mentor: Pip Cheshire, CNZM

Pip Cheshire is a partner in a practice of 25 architects, with a distinguished career marked by numerous design awards for projects spanning universities, cultural institutions, commercial buildings, resorts, and residences. A Distinguished Alumnus of the University of Auckland, he is the recipient of the 2013 NZ Institute of Architects Gold Medal for Architecture, President-elect of the NZ Institute of Architects, and a member of the Auckland Council Urban Design Panel. Beyond architecture, Pip is a published author (Architecture Uncooked, Random House), writer and publisher of Block broadsheet, and a passionate, albeit struggling, watercolourist and surfer.