About Simon Devitt
I am a photographer with a strong practice focus in Photography of Architecture, currently based in Auckland, New Zealand, with an established international practice throughout Australasia and further afield.
I have both a strong sense of home and a wanderlust which goes right back to when I was born on a tightrope in a travelling circus in 1973. Working in many different settings across cultures around the world has had a great impact on my professional practice, which has been greatly enriched by my experience of each particular context: Shanghai and its people, the fruitful silence of a Japanese bamboo forest, the light in Los Angeles, so different to the harsh, more direct light in New Zealand.
Infact, I love LA light, so diffused, as if a giant soft box had been placed over the sun. On one particular occasion, standing with my camera equipment in a very suburban street in Echo Park I noticed that I had caught the neighbours’ attention. A few came up to ask what I was doing, in a cutely nosey, neighbourly way, all of them appearing to act as a neighbourhood watch of sorts over the house I was photographing and for each other. I felt a great sense of community and a few of them even made it into one of my pictures. I love people in my photos as their appearance adds a sense of scale and a place in time.
I am the author of the award-winning photo-book Rannoch and the All Things Considered series. Photo-books bring together my passion for image, place and language, which started in 2013 with the launch of Portrait of a House, my first self- published photo-book on the Athfield residence in Wellington. Since then, I have started publishing the Ripe Fruit series.
My images feature in many books and collaborations including Long Live the Modern (2009), Group Architects: Towards a New Zealand Architecture (2010), Athfield Architects (2012) and Summer Houses (2011); as well as in numerous national and international magazines such as Elle Decor (Italy, UK, Japan and South Africa), Architectural Digest (Germany), Dwell (USA), Habitus, InDesign (Australia), Architecture NZ, Home New Zealand, Urbis, Interior (NZ).
I lecture in Photography of Architecture at the University of Auckland, where I have also had the pleasure of offering the annual Simon Devitt Prize for Photography since 2008.
Currently I’m represented by PhotoFoyer in Milan, Italy and my work has been exhibited in both group and solo shows.
Once I had a man crush on Nick Cave, and I have a penchant for garden gnomes. Oh, and I prefer my martini shaken, not stirred.
I am available for commissions, collaborations and guest lectures in New Zealand and worldwide.
LOCATION: Auckland, New Zealand
LEARN MORE: simondevitt.com
This compact dwelling follows the line of the hillside, bravely and unconventionally sloping down towards the view. The stepped plan stretches the view of the mountains long and low, just like a rock outcrop would.
Ideally sited just below a ridgeline, with panoramic views stretching southeast from Oneroa Bay, to Hakaimango Point and the Hauraki Gulf beyond, the Tiri House was designed to take advantage of the views without sacrificing protection and refuge from the elements.
Tasman View House is a low maintenance sleek home on the foothills of the Richmond Ranges. An extra thick insulated envelope of metal roofing and aluminium cladding wrap over elements of cedar shiplap and Fijian Kauri.
Located at Castor Bay on Auckland’s North Shore, the dark box like forms of Bay House stretch and weave along the elevated south-facing site. Recessed into the bank, the concrete basement is fractured by a glass roofed atrium space that allows sun and natural light to permeate deep within the building footprint.
The Pukapuka Road house uses recycled materials where possible. For example the windows are recycled steel joinery painstakingly restored but to off set the need for double glazing the large sliding doors are new timber joinery.
In a cramped, steep site on one of the busiest residential streets in Ponsonby, Auckland, there was magic to be found in the form of a dilapidated 110-year old heritage villa. Over two years, the three-bedroom, one-bathroom villa was transformed into a beautiful and functional, cozy family home.
This rammed earth house for a young family is arranged in 3 distinct wings, each with a different orientation for sun, view and connection to the landscape. The construction includes rammed earth walls, which are formed in-situ and provide both the interior wall finish and exterior cladding in its single solid mass.
This industrial-style house, designed with Andrew Kissell, is located in the inner city on the fringes of the central business district in Auckland. The challenge was to create a space that could be used as a home, a sanctuary in the middle of the city on a limited budget.
