Adam Collett

Unitec

Adam Collett (He/Him) is a 3rd-year student from Unitec, Auckland. He shares his portfolio and talks to us about how his art, architecture, and analytical analysis interconnect to create unique design processes and outcomes.

Warning: In this post, Adam shares his experience with loss and depression.

SANNZ: First off, who inspires you as an Architect?

Adam: Norman Foster, Mies Van Der Rohe and the architects of Bauhaus all inspire me.

I’m a huge fan of Norman Foster’s work as he is the architect who first comes to find when I think of the High-Tech style of architecture. I love buildings where the structure is exposed and is a design feature. This is most particular in the Hong Kong Shanghai Bank where it was exposed columns and trusses and I think the guns on top are a fun addition.

I’m a big fan of the quote ‘Less is More’ by Mies Van der Rohe. To me, it means that there is beauty in simplicity. My favourite building of his is the Farnsworth House because of how simple and different it is, plus I personally like the idea of a glasshouse in the woods.

My interest in Bauhaus was instilled in me while I was in high school as my design and technology teacher was a fan of the style, so it was the architecture style I was most familiar with coming into architecture school and is probably the reason why modernism has such a heavy influence on my studio work.

SANNZ: What is your favourite medium to use when you’re designing?

Adam: I like digital painting because it cleverly integrates hand drawing and digital art. It lets me put pen to paper in a digital way, create lines and shapes easily, and allows me to correct mistakes with the tap of my fingers.

Digital painting in Procreate is something I fell in love with and was always keen to see how I could use it in my design process. I see it as a game-changer for design. I can take Google Earth screenshots and photos of sketch models and use digital painting to experiment with planning, aesthetic and structural solutions, but ultimately the reason I digital paint is because I really enjoy doing it!

SANNZ: Can you talk more about your design style in architecture and as an artist?

Adam: I love the idea of creating something new and innovative. My drawings consist of bold lines and bright colours. As an artist, I like seeing new and exciting things that have never been done before. Anyone familiar with my art knows that I love doing drawings with bright, heavy colours. This is heavily inspired by my childhood love of cartoons and comic books which heavily influenced my drawing style.

To try and make my work stand out from the rest, I merge my drawing style with my architecture presentations. I personally like colour drawings as opposed to black and white drawings because I find them more visually striking and fun to look at!

SANNZ: It is clear to see the links between your architectural influences and presentation style! How else has your architectural style developed?

Adam: My biggest inspiration architecturally is OMA’s CCTV building in Beijing. I see it as a marvel of architectural and engineering innovation because of its unique form, and for the amount of time that must have gone into making sure that the design could stand up by itself, (especially the large cantilever.)

I also appreciate materials used in unconventional and interesting ways. Some notable examples are some buildings I visited while in Shanghai. The first was a building at Tongji University that appeared to be made of corrugated steel but was actually blue concrete. The other was Neri & Hu’s New Shanghai Theatre which is able to bring light into the building with voids in a solid concrete form.

One of my standouts projected that I viewed as new and innovative was a multi-generational house where the grid of the house was created with exposed timber columns, a design decision that was a happy accident.

Multi-Generational House

SANNZ: That’s awesome that you got to go to Shanghai! Why were you there?

Adam: I visited Shanghai during the mid-semester break of 2019 for a Shanghai Studio drawing elective. The trip changed the way I viewed architecture as it opened my eyes to what materials could be used to do, and I was amazed by some of the buildings I viewed and sketched. There is still so much of the city I want to see and when international travel becomes an option again, I would like to go back!

SANNZ: What is your favourite pieces of work in your portfolio?

Adam: Analytical Drawing was one of my favourite courses and it was a great lesson in how to use data as a design tool. It allowed me to combine my love of digital painting with my coursework and helped develop my drawing style. I feel that it has made me a better architecture student and artist.

My favourite drawings from my time in architecture school are my analytical drawings. The Star Wars scene analysis, the cycle map, and the study of flow.

SANNZ: These analytic drawings have a strong relationship with data and time. Is this something that you feel is important to your design process and the final work?

Adam: One of the reasons why designing with data is important is that it creates a set of rules to follow, yet it can also be subjective. An example of this can be seen in my Response to FLOW drawing. The brief was to design a piece of architecture based on my study of the roots of three magnolia trees in my local park. I designed a retreat for hikers that was covered on the north side to give hikers relief from the sun on hot days. When presenting this drawing to the class, the standout piece of feedback was that although someone could have designed with the data in an opposite way to this idea, it was still a valid approach as the data was followed correctly. It is an interesting design approach that I look forward to using in my student and professional career.

SANNZ: As you finish your undergraduate degree, are you planning on continuing with your studies, and do you have any areas where you want to focus and improve?

Adam: Doing the final year of my BAS part-time has given me the time to really think about what I want to do moving forward. At the moment I’m deciding between continuing on with my Master's Degree while looking for work in the industry or pursuing a career involving my artwork.

One of the things I’m most grateful for about my time as an undergrad is that it has helped me develop my drawing and design skills that can be applied to any design field.

SANNZ: Why have you been studying part-time? Do you think that this has been beneficial for you?

Adam: To say my time in architecture school has been hard is a bit of an understatement. My father passed away during my first year and I started experiencing very severe depression during my second year. I found myself really struggling emotionally so it was decided through mutual agreement with my school and me that I would study part-time for my third year.

While I was initially upset with the decision but it ended but being a blessing in disguise. It meant that I have been able to focus completely on my studio work this year and I was able to get most of the academic papers completely last year during the pandemic. If I return to do my master’s, I intend to return to full-time study.

This is one of the driving forces which pushes me to be a better designer, artist, and student.

SANNZ: Thanks, Adam! Good luck with whichever you decide, I’m sure it will be a success!

Interview by Cameron Rossouw

Photographs and work supplied by Adam Collett