Join us for a Coffee & Croissants conversation on Pivot with architectural designer Raimana Jones and Dr Andrew Douglas – Senior Lecturer in theory and design in Te Pare School of Architecture and Planning at the University of Auckland.

For Objectspace’s 2025 Courtyard Plinth Commission, Raimana Jones designed a tiny space that can function as a dining room, work study, and social gathering point. Pivot draws inspiration from domestic and public space to maximise a small footprint and create a playful, mobile intervention for visitors to activate.

Motivated by Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland’s relatively poor density score and our fraught proclivity for suburban sprawl, Jones’ design ethos is centred on multi-functional pieces designed with intention – furniture as mini-infrastructure.

This is your opportunity to get insights into this topical project through an informal kōrero between Jones and one of his mentors, Dr Andrew Douglas.

Get your $10 ticket to attend this morning talk with a coffee & croissant in hand. 

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After pursuing a traditional architecture education followed by the requisite stint working for large architecture outfits, an invitation to teach design studio and technical papers inspired a shift for Raimana Jones. All spare time became filled with hands-on making in the university workshop, fostering a material-led design approach that soon informed Jones’ founding of Atelier Jones Design. In his work, Jones aims to express both the practical and artistic qualities of materials. By embracing the constructive and poetic aspects of the medium at hand, Jones creates furniture, interiors and objects that speak to both his aesthetic and a restrained functionality. Jones is also a Professional Teaching Fellow at the University of Auckland ­– School of Architecture and Planning.

Dr Andrew Douglas is a Senior Lecturer in theory and design in Te Pare School of Architecture and Planning at Waipapa Taumata Rau the University of Auckland, where he directs the design programmes for the BAS and MArch(Prof). He is an executive editor of Interstices: Journal of Architecture & Related Arts. He currently chairs the enigma: he aupiki Trust, and is a trustee on the Greg Bowron Memorial Trust. He has practiced architecture in both Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland and London, and completed postgraduate studies at the University of Auckland and Goldsmiths, University of London. His current research addresses the role of affect in emerging forms of publicness and governance, colonial-urban formations in Aotearoa New Zealand, and philosophies of image and imagination.

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

Objectspace's Courtyard Plinth Commissions are supported by the Jan Warburton Charitable Trust.