Pre-order: Oceanic Architectural Routes: The Work of Mike Austin

PRE-ORDER: Launching 6 May 2026 – find out more here.

The work of Mike Austin began, perhaps, on the Waitematā Harbour. In the late 1950s, Austin substituted boat building for the University of Auckland School of Architecture. Throughout his academic career spanning 1969–2016, Austin’s research and teaching remained intimately connected to the Pacific Ocean.

This edited volume brings together contributions from Mike Austin’s former students and colleagues, Rau Hoskins, Albert L. Refiti, Sarah Treadwell, Lynda Simmons, and Icao Tiseli, with photographs from his archive gathered in the Oceanic region. The authors and photographs trace the roots and routes that tethered and extended Austin’s work, opening new pathways that would influence contemporary Māori and Moana architectural discourse.

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Produced following the Objectspace exhibition Oceanic Architectural Routes: The photographic archive of Mike Austin, 3 Dec. 2022–26 Feb. 2023 at Objectspace, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland.

Published in partnership between Objectspace and the AUT Vā Moana Research Centre.

Editors: Albert L. Refiti, Victoria McAdam, Emily Parr
Copyeditor: Mona-Lynn Courteau
Design: Shaun Naufahu
Typeface: Gramercy by Robert Janes
Digital Prepress/Colour Management: Spectra Graphics
Printer: Everbest Printing Investment Limited, HK

This book has been produced with the generous support of Noel Lane Architects, The Warren Trust, and a 2024 Contestable Fund Grant from Copyright Licensing New Zealand. It comes out of the Vā Moana research project, Artefacts of Relations: Building in Te Moananui, supported by the Royal Society Te Apārangi’s Marsden Fund.