Capturing New Zealand's health design landscape: A Q&A with Chris Thom, author and architect

The design history of New Zealand’s hospitals and healthcare facilities will be captured in a new publication by Chow:Hill Architects Principal and Registered Architect, Chris Thom. Drawing on his 25 years’ experience working on hospital projects in both New Zealand and Asia, Chris’ book, the working title of which is “Health Design in New Zealand’”, shares stories of people, places, and companies who have been instrumental in shaping New Zealand’s health design landscape.

Chris sat down to share where the idea for the book came, what he discovered during the research process, and what excites him about the future of health design in New Zealand.

Where did the idea for the book come from?

Working in hospitals around New Zealand for the last twenty or more years, I kept coming across buildings and architects that didn’t feature in mainstream architectural histories. So over time I collected fragments of information and was asked to do a few presentations on what I’d found, leading to suggestions that it be published. Anner put me in touch with Massey University Press, publishers of ‘Making Space’ and ‘Rewi’, who expressed interest, and Darryl has worked hard to promote it and gather sponsorship. I’m grateful to both of them, and the wider Chow:Hill team, for their fantastic support.

What was a surprising discovery you came across while researching and writing the book?

There are so many, but one that resonates with me given the current political debate is the story of Māhinārangi at Ngāruawāhia. In the 1920s, Te Puea Herangi developed a hub for the Kingitanga movement in the town, and the first building there was a Māori Parliament, for which she engaged architect John Willing Warren, even though he had served in the Armed Constabulary that evicted the inhabitants of Parihaka. Her next building, Māhinārangi, was intended to be a hospital, built in a whare nui form to make it more welcoming for her people. Unfortunately, her colleague Sir Apirana Ngata convinced her to have it designed and built by the contractor that he had used for the Māori Arts & Crafts Institute in Rotorua, even though by then Warren had designed several hospital buildings across the Waikato region. On completion, the Department of Health refused to licence it, and I can’t help but wonder if the outcome would have been different had she retained Warren’s services.

What is it about hospital design that intrigues you and keeps your passion for the sector continuing?

Almost all of us will experience a hospital more than once in our lives, sometimes at a time of personal crisis. It has been a privilege to have worked with so many clinicians and other users in developing facilities that help them to provide the best level of care for their patients.

Who have you collaborated with on the publication?

There are too many to mention here, and I have been overwhelmed by the generosity with which people across the country have given their time to help me find information. Having said that, I have greatly appreciated the work that the National Library has done in digitising so many historic newspapers and journals, and I have been a heavy user of their physical collection in Wellington.  

What are you most excited about for the future of New Zealand’s hospital design?

In the current political environment, where funding for hospital projects seems to have been drastically reduced, it is easy to be pessimistic. However, I have experienced similar situations several times during my career, and looking back through history, they are part of a recurring cycle. I look forward to future hospital buildings which enable the best possible patient care, while playing their part in improving resilience and mitigating the climate crisis. Given the talent, passion and dedication of the next generation of designers that I’m privileged to work with at Chow:Hill, I am very optimistic about the future of health design in New Zealand.

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About sponsorship opportunities

While the bulk of publication costs are supported by Chow:HIll and NZHDC, we seek additional support from companies and individuals across the NZ health design industry to complete pre-publication activities in the next few months and provide confidence to the publishers to commit to final production and distribution in 2025.

Please scan the QR code below, or click this link to register your details for sponsorship and/or purchasing once published.

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