Kathy Waghorn

Associate Professor Kathy Waghorn, hailing from Aotearoa New Zealand,  is co-director of HOOPLA, a Tāmaki Makaurau (Auckland) based ‘ultra-local’ practice carrying out urban research for place advocacy. HOOPLA are engaged with how people know, use and value places, and how places can be re-imagined and re-purposed. Their work is always grounded in specific places and the histories, people, and transactions that construct these places. HOOPLA’s work is discussed and documented in Kathy’s PhD ‘Practising a Feeling for Place (RMIT, 2017). In her design teaching Kathy generates communities of practice made up of learners, teachers, practitioners and researchers working with community partners. She is committed to the development of architectural education, where design-making is understood as a social and ethical practice set within the complexity of the city.