James Beard (architect)
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- For American chef and food writer James Beard, see James Beard
- For American musician and composer Jim Beard, see Jim Beard
| James Albert Beard | |
| Personal Information | |
|---|---|
| Name | James Albert Beard |
| Nationality | New Zealander |
| Birth date | 1924 |
| Birth place | New Zealand |
| Work | |
| Significant Buildings | Beard House PSIS Investment House Hannah Playhouse |
Contents |
[edit] Introduction
James Albert (Jim) Beard is a significant Wellington architect and landscape architect. He was born in 1924 in Christchurch, New Zealand. He is a Fellow of the New Zealand Institute of Architects (1969-), and in the past was closely involved in the institute at a national level (including the Education Committee 1968-1970), Publications Committee (1965-1969), Journal Committee (1963-1964), Library and Journal Committee (1964-1965)). He was the President of the Wellington Architectural Centre (1962), a Committee Member (1958-1960, 1982-1986), and is currently a life member. His service to the design community also included involvement with the New Zealand Institute of Landscape Designers, and the New Zealand Institute of Landscape Architects, of which he has been an Honorary Fellow since 1998.
[edit] Training and Education
Jim Beard trained in architecture at Auckland University, and was an early member of the Wellington Architectural Centre (formed in 1946). He worked for the Ministry of Works architectural office becoming a cadet supervisor in the late 1940s. He was actively involved with the Wellington Architectural Centre, particularly in the 1940s, 1950s and 1980s. After passing the Royal Town Planning Institute (London) examinations in Wellington (while working at the New Zealand Ministry of Works), he received a scholarship and went to M.I.T. to study city planning (1951-1952). Later at Harvard University he studied for a Masters in Landscape Architecture. In the 1960s he co-founded Gabites and Beard Registered Architects and Town Planning Consultants in Wellington and played an active role in the New Zealand Institute of Architects. In the late 1960s he returned to America to work as a Research Assistant (1967-1968) at the Harvard Graduate School of Design where he worked with Peter Hornbeck and Peter Jacobs co-producing Highway Esthetics: functional criteria for planing and design (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1968).
[edit] Private Architectural Practice
From 1971-1972 he was part of the architectural partnership Gabites, Toomath, Beard, Wilson & partners. Following this he formed James Beard & Co. In the 1980s he was responsible for the major repair, strengthening and restoration of the Katherine Mansfield Birthplace in Thorndon, including substantial conservation research (this material and documentation is deposited at the Alexander Turnbull Library), and was extensively involved in the recently formed New Zealand Institute of Landscape Architecture.
Beard has been involved in a range of buildings and landscape design. He is recognised for his residential work (especially the Beard House, Hauraki Street, Karori (1955), and apartment design in the 1960s), and two well-known inner city Wellington buildings: the Hannah Playhouse (1973) and P.S.I.S. Investment House (1976). He has been involved in significant landscape projects (e.g. the Te Marua Lakes Project, Kaitoke Regional Park). In addition his work is characterised as an multi-disciplinary practice, drawing on his skills in the fields of architecture, landscape architecture and town planning. He has also been involved in teaching architecture at a tertiary level at Auckland University, Wellington Technical College, Wellington Polytechnic and Victoria University of Wellington.
 PSIS Investment House (both Stages 1 and 2 are visible here) |
 PSIS Investment House (Stage 2) |
 Hannah Playhouse |
[edit] Influence and Significance
Jim Beard is a significant New Zealand architect. In his work at the Ministry of Works he influenced a generation of architects (including people such as Bill Alington). He is a rare example of a New Zealand architect undertaking postgraduate study at an overseas university, studying Town Planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and then Landscape Architecture at Harvard University. He was hence one of the few qualified Town Planners and Landscape Architects working in New Zealand in the 1950s and 1960s. To appreciate this fully, it must be remembered that it was not until 1969 that Lincoln University established the Post Graduate Diploma in Landscape Architecture - the first full-time course in landscape architecture in Australasia.
Beard has also made a significant contribution to concrete apartment design in Wellington in the late 1950s and early 1960s, examples of which exist in Hamilton Rd, Hataitai, Tapiri St/William St, Hataitai, Brougham St, Mt Victoria, and Wellington Rd, Kilbirnie. These were exercises in providing both liveable modern homes and efficient planning, at a time when single unit detached dwellings were the norm. He is perhaps best known within architectural circles for his significant contribution to Wellington's inner city examples of Brutalist architecture, namely the Hannah Playhouse (1973) and PSIS Investment House (1976).
His work on the Katherine Mansfield Birthplace is a also significant as a contribution to New Zealand's national cultural heritage. This work has included various reports and research work. The unpublished material is held within the Alexander Turnbull Library Manuscripts Collections. Published material on this work includes: Beard, James Mansfield Precinct (Wellington [N.Z.]: New Zealand Heritage and Conservation Trust and the Wellington Heritage and Conservation Trust, [2005]). Katherine Mansfield Birthplace received a New Zealand Tourism Award in 1994.
Jim has constantly contributed to New Zealand architecture and landscape design and architecture, as well as town planning from the beginning of his career to the present day, both as a professional and as an astute and committed commentator in institute and organisational publications such as: New Zealand Architect/Architecture New Zealand, The Landscape, Cuttings, and Off Centre. He has given service to organisations such as the Wellington Architectural Centre, the New Zealand Institute of Architects, the New Zealand Institute of Landscape Designers, and founded the Wellington Heritage and Conservation Trust as part of his efforts to lobby for a better built environment. As Michael Jones has noted "Beard has exerted a sustained influence on late 1960s attitudes to the landscape – as a regular commentator on national and civic policy and action." (Jones "Professional recognition" p. 9.)
His work, in particular the Hannah Playhouse, is also deemed to have national significance as it is represented in the Drawings, Photographs and Manuscripts Collections at the Alexander Turnbull Library at the National Library in Wellington. In addition both the libraries at the Schools of Architecture at University of Auckland, and Victoria University hold collections of Beard's writings on Architecture, Landscape Architecture, and Town Planning. The Hannah Playhouse is also recognised by its inclusion in the Wellington City Council Heritage Building Inventory, and his and Al Gabites' 1965 proposed "Precinct Planning for Wellington" was exhibited in "Unbuilt Wellington," 12 August-5 November 1989, Wellington City Art Gallery.
[edit] References
Beard, J.A. "Planning for Leisure" NZIA Journal (June 1970) v. 37, n. 6, pp. 188-189.
Beard, J.A. "Some Notes on Development and Building Control" NZIA Journal (1980) n.4, pp. 13-19.
Beard, James "Anthony Treadwell" Architecture New Zealand (January/February 2004) n. 1, p. 12.
Beard, James "Balderdash and flapdoodle" Planning Quarterly (June 1994) n. 114, p. 3.
Beard, James "Obituary" Architecture/New Zealand (January/February 1988) p. 28.
Beard, James "Planning open spaces and high rise development in Wellington" NZIA Journal (October 1969), v. 36, n. 10, pp. 316-319.
Beard, James A. "An historical perspective" Home and Building (1982) n. 4, p. 73.
Beard, James [co-authored with Sandy Beath et al] A. "A bit o' culture " Home and Building (1983) n. 4, p. 25.
Beard, James A. "The Wellington waterfront – an "ongoing situation" Home and Building (Feb/March 1984) pp. 71, 73.
Beard, Jim "Comment on Hunter Building" New Zealand Architect (April 1978) n. 2, p. 3.
Beard, James "Clubs, Shebangs and Warrens" New Zealand Architect (1985) n. 5, pp. 21-26.
Beard, James "Principles in redevelopment" New Zealand Architect (1987) n. 4, pp. 63, 69.
Beard, James 1889 New Zealand Loan and Mercantile building ([Wellington, N.Z.: New Zealand Heritage and Conservation Trust, 1992])
Beard, James At sea with the six Cs (Wellington [N.Z.]: New Zealand Heritage and Conservation Trust and the Wellington Heritage and Conservation Trust, [2004])
Beard, James Beauty, technology, biological process (Wellington [N.Z.]: New Zealand Heritage and Conservation Trust and the Wellington Heritage and Conservation Trust, 2005)
Beard, James Bobs and cycles (Wellington [N.Z.]: New Zealand Heritage and Conservation Trust and the Wellington Heritage and Conservation Trust, 1994)
Beard, James Conservation (Wellington [N.Z.]: New Zealand Heritage and Conservation Trust and Wellington Heritage and Conservation Trust. [1995])
Beard, James Draft Wellington regional landscape plan (Wellington [N.Z.]: New Zealand Heritage and Conservation Trust and Wellington Heritage and Conservation Trust, [1996])
Beard, James Fundamentalist values boondockery (Wellington [N.Z.]: New Zealand Heritage and Conservation Trust and the Wellington Heritage and Conservation Trust, [2004])
Beard, James Humans, humanism, humanists (Wellington, N.Z.: New Zealand Heritage and Conservation Trust and the Wellington Heritage and Conservation Trust, [1999])
Beard, James Lambton Common (Wellington [N.Z.]: New Zealand Heritage and Conservation Trust and the Wellington Heritage and Conservation Trust, [1997])
Beard, James Mansfield precinct (Wellington [N.Z.]: New Zealand Heritage and Conservation Trust and the Wellington Heritage and Conservation Trust, [2005])
Beard, James Motupipi Village (Wellington [N.Z.]: New Zealand Heritage & Conservation Trust and Wellington Heritage & Conservation Trust, [1995])
Beard, James Mui Potu conservation 2004 : the ongoing protection of the biological process of Abel Tasman Point peninsula, Wainui Estuary, Golden Bay (Wellington [N.Z.]: New Zealand Heritage and Conservation Trust and the Wellington Heritage and Conservation Trust, [2003?] )
Beard, James One window houses (Wellington [N.Z.]: Wellington Heritage and Conservation Trust, [1994])
Beard, James Police headquarters : a pretty police park for Waring Taylor Street ([Wellington, N.Z.: New Zealand Heritage and Conservation Trust, 1991])
Beard, James Regional Park asunder blunder (Wellington [N.Z.]: Wellington Heritage and Conservation Trust, [1994])
Beard, James Resource management jottings (Wellington, N.Z.: New Zealand Heritage and Conservation Trust and the Wellington Heritage and Conservation Trust, [1997])
Beard, James Resource management, design and planning ([Wellington, N.Z.: New Zealand Heritage and Conservation Trust, 1992])
Beard, James Scapes, sustainability and survivals (Wellington, N.Z.: New Zealand Heritage and Conservation Trust and the Wellington Heritage and Conservation Trust, [1999])
Beard, James Site analysis and appraisals ([Wellington, N.Z.: New Zealand Heritage and Conservation Trust, 1990])
Beard, James Social concern, building and the Architectural Centre, Wellington (Wellington [N.Z.]: New Zealand Heritage and Conservation Trust and Wellington Heritage and Conservation Trust, [1997])
Beard, James Some notes on regulatory pitfalls of building conservation ([Wellington, N.Z.: New Zealand Heritage and Conservation Trust, 1990]) Beard, James Some planning issues ([Wellington, N.Z.: New Zealand Heritage and Conservation Trust, 1992])
Beard, James State Highway Two and Kaitoke Regional Park (Wellington [N.Z.]: Wellington Heritage and Conservation Trust, [1994])
Beard, James Symbols and national museums ([Wellington, N.Z.: New Zealand Heritage and Conservation Trust, 1990])
Beard, Jim "ACROSS THE BOARD: Helmut Einhorn 1911-1988" Architecture/New Zealand (July/August 1988) p. 14.
Beard, Jim "OBITUARY: Helmut Einhorn 1911-1988" Planning Quarterly (September 1988) n. 91, p. 30.
Bonny, Stephanie Living with 50 architects (Auckland: Cassell, 1980) pp. 32-33, 36-37. "Building will almost fill short Whitmore St" Evening Post (Friday 21 September 1962) p. 13.
"Centre keeps watch on Capital" Evening Post (20 August 1991)
Clark, Justine and Paul Walker Looking for the Local (Wellington: Victoria University Press, 2000) pp. 37, 65, 71, 182-183.
"Concrete block home has holiday appeal" The Evening Post (17 Apr 1972)
Dudding, Michael "A Final Formality: Three Modernist Pavilion Houses of the Early 1960s" "... about as austere as a Dior gown ...": New Zealand Architecture the 1960s: a one day symposium ed Christine McCarthy (Wellington: Centre for Building Performance Research, 9th December 2005) pp. 7-11.
Dudding, Michael. 'A Useful Exercise: The context, content, and practical application of W H Alington's 'Thesis on the Theory of Architectural Design'. unpublished Masters’ thesis, Wellington: Victoria University of Wellington, 2005.
Exquisite Apart: 100 Years of Architecture in New Zealand ed Charles Walker (Auckland: Balasoglou Books, on behalf of the N.Z.I.A., 2005) pp. 186-187.
"Family House: simple post and beam construction" Home and Building (June 1959) v. XXII n. 1, pp. 38-41.
"Investment House Wellington" New Zealand Institute of Architects Journal (20 November 1968) v. 35, n. 11, pp. 346-351.
Jones, Michael "Professional recognition [re: James Beard]" Landscape New Zealand (September/October 1998) pp. 9-11.
Kernohan, David Wellington's New Buildings (Wellington: Victoria University Press, 1989) pp. 16, 58, 121.
Lloyd-Jenkins, Dougas and Bill Mckay "Top 50 homes" New Zealand Home and Entertaining (December 1999) pp. 64-86.
McCarthy, Christine "High modern" Architecture New Zealand (March/April 2006) pp. 65-69.
"New BNZ glass-in site plan" Evening Post (9 October 1986)
New Zealand Institute of Architects in association with the Lower Hutt City Corporation Housing competition, Buller Grove: assessors report editor. James Beard ([Wellington, N.Z.: New Zealand Institute of Architects], 1976)
"NZIA Resene NZ Awards for Architecture 2006: Enduring Awards" New Zealand Architecture (May/June 2006) p. 59.
"Post Office Stores and workshops Taita" NZIA Journal (20 March 1969) v. 35, n. 3, pp. 90-93.
"Upper Hutt City Council Building" NZIA Journal (20 June 1969) v. 36, n. 6, p. 204.
