More than 40 students and staff are spending part of their summer holidays working alongside local communities to design real world solutions for climate resilient living.

Students are taking part in a mix of field trips and studio-based projects at the School of Architecture during their fortnight in Dunedin, complemented by a week of online and collaborative learning either side back at their home institutions.

The 2026 Atelier South Summer School attracted senior architecture students and staff from the Auckland University of Technology, Unitec, Ara, as well as Melbourne’s Monash University. All the guests are being hosted at Te Pā Tauira, Otago Polytechnic’s residential student village.

Associate Professor Tobias Danielmeier, Head of Architecture at Otago Polytechnic, says the students are being challenged to explore what it means to live, work, play, develop resources grow food, educate, and thrive within a self-sustaining, circular economy.

“The aim is to bring different students from different places together to work on real-life problems, issues, and opportunities”, says Tobias.

“This gives them the chance to engage in a different scale, in a different environment and a different cultural context, which all helps sharpen their way of thinking about architecture and the world in general.”

Monash University student Grace Briggs-Yuan is enjoying her first visit to New Zealand and the opportunity to explore the area with like-minded architecture students.

“I’ve loved the field trips along the peninsula, just experiencing nature at different scales”, she says.

“We got to see the yellow-eyed penguins at OPERA (Otago Peninsula Ecosystems Research Alliance), went to the Royal Albatross Centre, and visited the Portobello Marine Laboratory.

“Our group’s now working on a project that explores connecting Otago Peninsula and Dunedin, and we’re also looking at the flooding problems in South Dunedin."

Monash University classmate Ethan Zohar is in the final year of his Master of Architecture studies, and says the opportunity was worth giving up part of his summer break.

“Coming here, it's a unique environment that you don't know anything about. So you're going in a little bit fresh and you get to experience different thinking through working with new people”, he says.

“And to learn so much about a new place where everyone has such pride for the region has been a pretty insightful and definitely worthwhile experience for me.”

The pilot project is supported by the Dunedin City Council, mana whenua, industry experts, and local tourism operators.


* The Star covered the Atelier South Summer School in a story here...