The first house Sam designed after graduating from architecture school was, as per tradition, for his parents. Designed with John Daish, the house was completed in 1998 and was part of NZ House and Garden's tour in March that raised over $250,000 for the NZ Cancer Society. The Dominion Post talked to Sam and his parents just prior to the event.

Scott Mckenzie (architectural graduate at KebbellDaish) starred as 'the renter' in North & South magazine for an article about housing called Buy, Sell or Hold?

On the subject of housing Scott expressed the importance of two criteria: density and quality - without which our cities, environment and people suffer.

"This is a beautiful country. What I'd love to see, and be a part of, is our built environment being improved to match the level and quality of our natural environment. Homes aren't just objects, they're expressions of our values."

Jenny Brown from the Melbourne newspaper, The Age, wrote a nice wee story about Humbug last Saturday. Have a read for yourself online, here, or download the pdf for your fridge door from the link to the left.

Last night Sam presented a public lecture about Humbug and the way in which it joins painting and architecture. They used to be bedfellows of course, but have spent the last hundred years or so talking to each other over the fence. Time to take the fence down and chat more we reckon.

Sam spoke alongside two other highly esteemed members of the Architectural Centre in Wellington. Each speaker spoke about a single house and then chatted about its ins and outs. It was just swell, and if you weren't there you should have been.

Sam was a guest lecturer in the MArch(Prof) Design/Research/Design Lecture Series at Auckland University. He gave a double barrelled lecture: the first half focussed on the body of KebbellDaish's work in a broader historical context. The second half provided a detailed description of Humbug as an example of design as research.

Other speakers in the series included Jeffrey Inaba of INABA Inc, Los Angeles, on the role of research in his design consultancy and publishing activities; John Walsh on architecture in relation to the general public; Professor Dorita Hannah on research in relation to performance and theatre design projects, and Gerald Melling of on the role of research in disaster relief based, residential design projects.