Michael Payne

Michael Payne enjoyed a successful career as an architect in New Zealand and internationally. He was also a practicing Quaker which influenced his work and his preference for simple forms and humble high-quality materials. Payne's Architectural influences were mostly international, including Mies Van der Rohe, Harry Seidler and the houses of Richard Neutra.

In 1956, while only halfway through his studies, Payne began his practice. He designed and constructed, with assistance from university friends, a home for his parents in Whanganui. The new home was bold and innovative, attracting significant public interest and several new commissions.

From this promising start Payne decided to focus on creating affordable modern homes. In collaboration with an existing low-cost housing company, Payne designed over 20 bespoke, low cost, experimental, modular homes, many using lightweight pumice concrete prefabricated walls. Unfortunately, the partners eventually found that it was difficult to make bespoke affordable modern housing profitable.

In 1961, Payne decided to leave for Hong Kong where his sister was living. It was here that Payne received his largest commission, to design and project manage the Kwun Loong Lau Kennedy Town housing project. The building would feature 2050 apartments and house around 15,000 people in a major interlinked series of high‐rise buildings.

Payne extensively focused on understanding how the community would live together, studying residents in similar projects and how they spent their spare time and related to their neighbours. The resulting building was considered very successful. The design was aesthetically simple, clearly structured, promoted positive interactions and influenced by an international modern context including Le Corbusiers Unite de habitation in Marseilles.

Payne returned to New Zealand in 1968 and was soon to start another project that would define his career - The Expo70 Geyser Room in Osaka Japan, which would represent New Zealand on the world stage. The idea proposed to Payne was to create a small, uninspiring geyser inside a room that featured corrugated iron roofing and model sheep. Payne took this idea, expanded on it, and created something world class - an integrated geyser experience in a cavern-like space.

Inside the space visitors enjoyed New Zealand cuisine in an impressive environment entirely fitted out with the best of New Zealand design. The Geyser Room was one of the most popular rooms of the world exhibition and showed that New Zealand could produce work that successfully competed with larger countries and stood out on the world stage.

Crown Lynn and Crown Crystal were represented at the expo, yet the standout piece was the ply and leather swivel chair designed by Payne. It was produced in collaboration with Payne’s friend Ray Reesby at Nova Interiors in Wellington and is today known as the Osaka Expo Chair.

Ref: Adapted from architect Mark Southcombe's essay presented at the ASA conference VUW November 2017