Over many years, Ian Athfield and his team at Athfield Architects have reshaped New Zealand architecture – from the Buck House at Te Mata Estate to Wellington’s Civic Square, from Jade Stadium to Athfield’s own sprawling settlement on the Khandallah hills.

Reflecting on half a century of work, Julia Gatley’s landmark book introduces a major body of architecture that will lead readers through modernism, postmodernism and beyond. Its four-part structure traces Athfield’s formative years; the fledgling firm and its radical 1960s and ’70s houses; its important break into commercial work; and finally its impact in the public, urban and institutional realms.

Athfield Architects combines newly commissioned photography, evocative original architectural drawings and a rich text informed by extensive archival research and interviews with key figures in the firm. Taking us from the slums of Manila to the streets of post-quake Christchurch, this major book shows how New Zealand’s leading contemporaryy architect is transforming the way we all might live.