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Speaker Profile: Gary Lawson

Gary is one of the founding directors of Stevens Lawson Architects Limited established in 2002. The practice’s strengths lie in the creation of innovative design responses with a high level of aesthetic sensibility and functional resolution. Collaborative design with clients, consultants and users is intrinsic to their approach to architectural practice.

Gary’s key skills include: managing clients needs, design background across multiple project types, leadership with a focus on client service, innovative design and technical resolution, oral communication with individuals and groups, project brief consultation and formulation, promoter and exponent of collaborative/team based working models, liaisons with local authorities, leading regular PCG meetings to co-ordinate consultants and manage the budget, managing the programme against key deliverables, and managing the project team.

Gary has strong formal design and model making skills. Gary was a senior lecturer to semester 1 Master of Architecture students at Auckland University lecturing in Critical Regionalism; Identity, Themes and Materials. He was a jury member for the AAA/Cavalier-Bremworth Design Awards in 2005. He has regularly lectured and participated as a guest critic at AUT, Unitec and University of Auckland School of Architecture design studio programmes. Gary was appointed 2010 & 2011 Adjunct Professor of Design at the Unitec School of Architecture. He was the conveyor of the 2011 Auckland Branch Awards and appointed member for 2011/12 NZIA National Awards jury. Gary was a 2014 Home of the year jury member.

Latest Posts

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6 October 2026

Building a timber trampoline in the sky!

The Pringle at Assembly Studios near Atlanta is an 82-foot clear-span, 4,000-square-foot bending-active timber gridshell. Its two-layer roof was assembled flat from straight 3-by-3-inch timber laths, lifted in a single...
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6 October 2026

Mass timber solution to Canada’s housing crisis

New study from Perkins&Will offers mass timber solution to Canada’s housing crisis — researchers propose a prefabricated, modular mass-timber system for accelerating housing delivery while supporting the nation’s economy and...
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6 October 2026

Waikato Regional Theatre case study

The Waikato Regional Theatre is an arts-led regeneration project intended to create a civic and cultural hub on Hamilton’s riverfront. Designed as a community and visitor destination, it will combine...
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29 September 2026

Timber engineering of tomorrow

An airship hangar as a blueprint for the timber engineering of tomorrow: it is the gates that make the scale of this structure immediately comprehensible.  But the real highlight of...
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29 September 2026

Go the Swiss!

Bürogebäude Wood in Grenoble — The six-storey timber structure uses columns and beams spaced 4–6 m apart, supported on shallow concrete footings with tie-rods for seismic resistance; the eastern section...
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29 September 2026

EVE Music Hall — Croatia

This looks like an icon in the making – can’t wait to see the finished photos inside this magnificent space! The EVE Music Hall is set to become a new...
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29 September 2026

Albert Park Pit Building

Who doesn’t like civic buildings especially when they also serve as Grand Prix venues. Woods Bagot has been appointed to lead the architectural vision for the redevelopment of the Albert...
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22 September 2026

The Court Theatre – case study

The Court Theatre project is a purpose-built performing arts venue in Christchurch, designed to be the cultural heart of the city. The building integrates mass timber elements to enhance sustainability,...
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22 September 2026

Wood is Good Day at Te Hapara School

Hands-on Wood is Good Day gives students a glimpse into the people, technology and opportunities behind forestry. Te Hapara School students got up close to the world of forestry this...
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