Worship: A History of New Zealand Church Design by Bill McKay and image © Jane Ussher. Published by Random House.

Worship: a command to the ungodly, or a call to the faithful? New Zealand, despite being one of the least religious countries on earth, has a decent sprinkling of churches left here by our collective founding forefathers, and there are still some who do indeed worship at their altars every Sunday.

Churches are an inherently picturesque part of New Zealand, with subject matter that is well designed and well loved. To accompany Don Donovan’s Country Churches of New Zealand, and the recently published Linda and Robert Burgess book Historic Churches, we have another: Bill McKay and Jane Ussher’s Worship: A History of New Zealand Church Design.

Without doubt, Worship is the most authoritative book yet on the architecture of the New Zealand church. It is a book written by an architect, for other architects, although I hope the sumptuously presented works in these pages will appeal also to the wider audience. None of these books mentioned is an entirely encyclopaedic tour of every single church in New Zealand; although McKay covers 70 churches, and the Burgess book covers 60, there are bound to be many more missed out.....Continue Reading

> via architecturenow.co.nz