Join Athfield Architects Principal Jon Rennie and Objectspace Director Kim Paton for coffee, croissants and conversation on the closing weekend of our current exhibitions.

The pair will discuss the series of events that informed Less than 5 per cent: Athfield’s First Church of Christ Scientist.

Growing up in Wellington, Jon Rennie’s first memory of the First Church of Christ Scientist building was from the age of twelve when regularly waiting across the street for a bus home after school. Unaware of what came before on the site, the building was a large part of his understanding of Wellington’s streetscape and urban character.

In 2022 Athfield Architects and others in the community endeavoured - with little success - to halt, stall and/or curtail the demolition of the building.

Now that the dust has settled, pieces (and people) picked up off the floor and some time has passed - there is an opportunity to reflect on what happened, perhaps how it might have been avoided, who might have done better and where to from here in the intensification of Aotearoa’s cities.

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Jon Rennie is an Architect and a principal of Athfield Architects. He has knowledge and experience in the design of public architecture and urbanism and has worked in the United Kingdom, Spain, United States and Aotearoa New Zealand. He is based in the Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland studio of Athfield Architects. 

Kim Paton is the Director of Objectspace, a public gallery dedicated to the fields of craft, design and architecture. She works with artists, makers and designers on a broad range of exhibitions and publications, and has curated and written extensively on object-based artforms.

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Coffee & Croissants is a conversation series supported by our friends at Allpress Espresso and Daily Bread.