Beyond the State: New Zealand State Houses from Modest to Modern
Client: Penguin
Project: History and case studies about the NZ State House programme
Graphic designer: Alan Deare
Bill McKay and Andrea Stevens wrote Beyond the State: New Zealand State Houses from Modest to Modern in 2015 for Penguin. Photography by Simon Devitt.
Penguin commissioned Andrea to write 14 case studies for this book, with architectural academic, commentator and historian Bill McKay writing the history section. Simon Devitt travelled New Zealand to capture this careful selection of state houses, all lovingly portrayed in images and text.
Finalist in the NZ Book Awards 2016.
Excerpt:
‘Mention the “state house” to most New Zealanders and the stout little boxes of the First Labour Government come to mind. They are an enduring symbol of the country’s egalitarian values and are either romanticised or underrated depending on who you speak to. With the very first reaching seventy-five years old, we were curious how these modest houses are lived in today and how they fit into contemporary notions of what a house is, when they appear so old-fashioned, compartmental and small.’
