Nigel COOK Obituary

I have, belatedly, just heard of Nigel´s passing. I remember feeling so excited to discover Nigel´s houses and the desire to own one took my partner and I into uncharted territory. The entire process of designing and building a small house at Whanarua Bay on the East Coast remains one of the most thrilling events of my life. Nigel was a unique character as many of the people leaving messages on this post have mentioned. I no longer have the house but living in it brought me a great deal of joy.

Nigel was an inspiration of my 20s
RIP

I was very sad to hear news of Nigel's passing. As others have mentioned, he was a real fixture on High Street in the days when I was an architecture student and he worked from an office in the Canterbury Arcade building above Manning Mitchell. Nigel was always up for a debate, with anyone, over confident students included. He grabbed me once and more or less frog marched me down to Unity Books to buy S,M,X,XL, which probably wiped out my funds for a few weeks. He had passions and was very happy to share them widely. But more than any personal memories, I wouldn't want to over-play my relationship with Nigel, he stands as one of the very few New Zealand architects who developed a theory of building, and then set about building it. His early wind/rain houses are a sort of proto Lacaton Vassall, techno optimistic, people focused and as radical as anything made in this country in the past forty years. His work deserves far greater attention than arguably it has had. If his environmental thinking seems prescient now, it will only get more so with time. Goodbye Nigel, you will be missed.

I worked for Nigel in High Street for a few months in the early 1990s and was involved with the drawing up of the Locke House in Ahipara - mentioned below by John and Caroline (lovely to reach across the years!) Nigel shared his work space with other creatives. Writer Nigel Cox and artist Karl Maughan occupied adjacent rooms and would emerge frequently for lively conversation. High Street was Nigel´s home - the tiny space he fitted out was truly a micro apartment - Rakinos, where we drank coffee. I remember vividly and fondly Nigel´s irreverent wit and boisterous `Hey´! Sending sympathy, love and best wishes to his family.

Very sorry to hear of the passing of the irrepressible, delightful Nigel. Always such a pleasure to spend time with him. I got to know him a little when High St felt like his living room c1990. Nigel was such good company. I loved his approach to friendship that crossed decades and generations with not a blink behind the huge glasses. Love to your family.

I adored Nigel and his enthusiasm for life, curiosity, sharpness and humour.

I remember one day - sometime between ages 85-90 - Nigel was meant to visit us at Bendalong, a town 3 hours drive from Sydney. There's no public transport or anything nearby, so we'd organised to pick him up in a nearby city. But he wasn't there on the day of our meet up. And then days went by. We were worried! Three days after he was meant to arrive, Nigel came strolling down our street towards the house. He'd caught a three hour train back to Sydney, stayed in a backpackers, then got a 3 hour train back south, then gotten on a local bus, and then a taxi, and then walked the final few kilometres. And had left his address book in New Zealand!

He had a hilarious sense of adventure...like no journey - no matter how old you are - was too much trouble to see friends. The house he built our family at Bendalong is one of the great pleasures in my life.

Rest easy, Nigel. Your curiosity buoys us on.

Nigel designed a house for our family in Bendalong, NSW.

I remember him
Specifically coming to talk to me about what mattered to me in the design, as my partner John Maynard was definitely driving the project! He said it wouldn´t be a good house for us all unless we all contributed to its creation. More than twenty years later, I still think of Nigel every time I´m in the house. The spaces are generous and really do reflect our family´s desire to be welcoming and inclusive. It feel timeless, honest .. endlessly regenerative.

And our friendship with Nigel grew through that happy experience, too. He was our visitor several times ... including most famously his last visit (not so long ago) when he - amazingly - ambled up the Bendalong road 24 hours after we´d given up Expecting him. His excuse? He´d left his address book at home, but he was unphased by the adventure of making it to our place. Ever the positive, the explorer, the curious. Dear Nigel, I will always treasure my friendship with this special, unique individual.

Nigel had a significant impact on our lives and on our children’s lives. He became a friend for life after he designed our house in Ahipara. He made the house design and construction enormous fun, a joyous experience. His focus on enhancing the way people live and interact with their surroundings has resonated with us throughout the years since. He was lively, deeply thoughtful, stimulating and interesting company. We send our sincere condolences to his family.

Nigel was a formative figure in my education as an architect. I treasured his energetic visits to Australia.