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
The Longbush Ecosanctuary Welcome Shelter is an innovative environmental education space designed, constructed and operated by a group of passionate volunteers, with the support of local businesses and charitable organisations.
The brief for this addition was for concrete, timber inside and out and timber slats – with a contemporary aesthetic. The new contemporary extension is made up of two stacked rectangular boxes offset so that the upper cantilevers in two directions over the lower, which forms a bridge back to the existing house.
Steel screens and profiled-metal cladding and roofs accentuate the heavy metal theme, while cedar to the north and the street elevation softens the house as a neighbourly presence in the street.
The Hahei house also has the ability to transform with the use of sliding screens which open and close for the changing weather as well as manipulating the spaces for privacy or openness.
A lifetime spent in the boat-building industry provided the inspiration for this rusted steel cladding project. The location at the margin of the bay and exposed to the elements – wind and ocean called for a rugged response.
Project: Te Hihi House Architects: Strachan Group Architects Location: Karaka, New Zealand Photography: Simon Devitt Text by Strachan Group Architects Te Hihi embraces the interminable rural setting amidst the gentle rolling landscape distinctive of Karaka, 45 kilometers south of Auckland City. The building is sited where two valleys converge to form a narrowing spur of
Architects: Strachan Group Architects Project: Mount Eden House Location: Mount Eden, Auckland, New Zealand Photography: Simon Devitt Mount Eden House is a single-family residence recently completed by Strachan Group Architects, a multiple award-winning Auckland practice. Mount Eden House is winning at the 2017 Auckland Architecture Awards. Located on a main arterial road and faced with high neighbours overlooking
Project: Sawtooth House Architects: Assembly Architects Location: Queenstown, New Zealand Photography: Simon Devitt AWARDS New Zealand Institute of Architects Southern Architecture Award 2017 Sawtooth House is a rural single-family house recently completed by Assembly Architects, an architecture practice founded by architects Louise Wright and Justin Wright in 2005. From the architect: Atop a terrace overlooking the Shotover
Located in Waiheke Island, New Zealand, the Tent house is a small home designed by Chris Tate Architecture. Set in bush and bounded on three sides by roads and a wetland, the site was challenging. The tent-like structure of the house responds to those restrictions in a daring and dynamic way. The sharply raking ridgeline
Studio2 Architects have designed The Crossing House, a private home built on the original cattle tablelands overlooking Pakiri Beach, New Zealand. Description by Studio2 Architects: The house fuses together a limited material palette of concrete, blue steel, and oiled cedar into a bold and incredibly dynamic space, allowing the owner (a professional writer) genuine flexibility
Bull O’Sullivan Architecture ( B/OS ) have designed Evans Family Home in Auckland, New Zealand. Description by architect: In the early decades of the 20th century kahikatea timber was used to make boxes in which butter was exported to Great Britain. Unlike most other woods, kahikatea did not taint the butter. With this alteration to
Project: Kinloch Lodge Architect: Patterson Architects Builder: Livingstone Builders Interior Design: Virginia Fisher Forte Flooring: Tactile Rough Sawn Oak panelling, Black & White Location: Taupo, New Zealand Year: 2015 Photo Credits: Simon Devitt Awards: NZIA Residential and Commercial Award, 2017 Commercial Project Award, Tourism, Silver Winner, 2017 Sir Miles Warren Award for Architecture, 2017 Jack
