Gerald Melling

Cursory Rhymes, June 2013 Published by Thumbprint Victoria University Press in association with Sport

Gerald John Melling (1943 – 22 December 2012) was an English-born, architect, poet, novelist, journalist, author and editor.

Melling is noted for his unique brand of Liverpudlian humour and Beatles'-style anti-establishmentarianism, which be often brought into his work. Following the Boxing Day Tsunami in 2004, he designed almost 50 houses and a community centre along the south coast of Sri Lanka, eventually writing a book called Tsunami Box (2010) about his experiences. He had two children, a daughter, Zoe Melling, and a son, David Melling, who is also an architect. He died on 22 December 2012 surrounded by his family.

Gerald began to write the poems collected in this book when he was diagnosed with nasty cancer in late October 2012 with was later combined into a book and introduced by Geoff Cochrane who is a poet and fiction writer and a dear friend of Gerald.

In 2008 their company won the Home New Zealand Home of the Year award for a small Wairarapa home, called the Signal Box.

Signal box, HOME New Zealand, Home of the Year 2008 3 News, 7 August 2008 Houses New Zealand, Issue 6, Gerald Melling The Gravy, Episode 13, May 2009

Split box, Modern Residential Design, 2008 Phaidon Atlas of 21st Century Architecture

"The Samurai House", in Architecture Inspired by New Zealand Mint Publishing, Auckland, 2006

"Skybox", in Home: New Directions in World Architecture and Design, Millennium House, NSW, Australia, 2006

Following the Boxing Day Tsunami in 2004, he designed almost 50 houses and a community centre along the south coast of Sri Lanka, eventually writing a book called Tsunami Box about his experiences.

"The Samurai House" and "Skybox", in at Home: A Century Of New Zealand Design, Douglas Lloyd Jenkins Godwit/Random House, 2004

"The Music Box" and "Skybox", in Exquisite Apart, ed. Charles Walker 100 Years of Architecture in New Zealand NZIA, Auckland, 2004

Music box, NZ Timber Design Journal, Issue 3/Vol. 6, 1997 Wellington City Council Case Study

In 1990 he formed Melling Morse Architects along with Allan Morse, and the pair worked on public and private buildings including the redevelopment of Left Bank Arcade, Auckland’s Butterfly Creek and Melling's own home The Skybox, which sits a top of the Melling Morse Architects office in Egmont St.

"Thorndon Clinic", in Wellington's New Buildings, David Kernohan Victoria University Press, 1989

From 1977 Gerald Melling was employed at the Board Of Education where he worked on various school projects, including Worser Bay School and Thorndon Kindergarten. This period sparked his interest in education theory and environments for learning and culminated in the publishing of his book Open Schoolhouse in 1981.

Gerald John Melling discovered an interest in art and poetry from a young age before choosing architecture as a creative outlet and a way to make a living. He left school at 16 to work in an architect's office as a cadet. He attended night classes at Liverpool Technical Institute. In 1976 Melling received formal architectural training at Auckland University and gained his architectural registration in 1977.

He worked briefly New York City and Toronto as a magazine editor before emigrating to New Zealand in 1971 to work for the Ministry of Works in Porirua.

b.1943, Bumper Books, 1999 Postcards from the Coast, Thumbprint Press, 1992 Illustrated Poetry, Satyrday Publications,1968

Samurai house TVNZ Home Front Feature Phaidon Atlas of 21st Century Architecture

"The Music Box", in World Architecture A Critical Mosaic 1900 -2000 Vol.10 Southeast Asia and Oceania Springer Weinn, New York City, 1999