Miles Warren

Miles Warren was born in Christchurch and began learning architecture in office of Cecil Wood when he was 16. In 1953 he moved to England, working at the London County Council, where he witnessed the birth of Brutalist Architecture by seminal design pair Alison and Peter Smithson.

He returned to New Zealand to establish his own design practice in Christchurch. A first major project was the Dorset St flats (1956), which lead to a number of significant projects such as College House, Harewood Crematorium (1963), Canterbury Students Union (1964-1970), and the Christchurch Town Hall (1972).

The practice Warren and Mahoney was established in 1958 with Maurice Mahoney. The firm was instrumental in developing the "Christchurch School" of architecture, an intersection between the truth-to-materials and structural expression that characterised Brutalism, and the low-key, Scandinavian and Japanese commitment to "straightforwardness".

He retired from Warren and Mahoney in 1994 but continued to consult as an architect and maintain his historic home and garden at Ohinetahi.

Over Warren's life he was recognised with many accolades including NZIA Gold medals (1959, 1964, 1969, 1973, 2000), was made a COBE (1974), KCOBE (1985), a member of ONZ (1995), and an Icon Award from the Arts Foundation New Zealand in 2003.

See also Miles Warren Trust biography, Warren and Mahoney (firm), Stuff.co.nz obituary and wikipedia.