Current and past students of Dr Christoph Schnoor joined colleagues, friends and family of the German-born academic for his Professorial Address at Te Noho Kotahitanga Marae on Thursday.
They came to celebrate his promotion to the rank of professor, while reflecting on his research career in architectural theory and history, along with twenty-one years of service to the School of Architecture at Unitec.
Prof. Schnoor is a widely esteemed scholar who has spent the past two decades investigating architecture in the Pacific region, with a focus on Samoa.
While he holds a PhD in Architectural Theory, over the years he has moved into architectural history, researching the overlap between Indigenous and Western architecture and culture.
“His work has been outstanding in the field, combining rigorous methodology with innovative thinking,” says Emeritus Professor, Marcus Williams, who introduced Prof. Schnoor and his achievements.
“The interface between Europe and Pacific have perhaps become a theme of his teaching and research.”
Executive Director MIT-Unitec, Peseta Sam Lotu-Iiga acknowledged Prof. Schnoor’s groundbreaking work in the region which he connected with personally: “It is a real privilege for me as a Samoan to honour someone who has done so much work in the Pacific, particularly Samoa.
“Can I just say, malo le galue (well done on your great work), malo le fa’amalosi (well done on your strength and commitment), and malo le tauivi (through struggle you’ve achieved something significant).”
Among those present was longtime collaborator, Professor Albert Refiti, a researcher and lecturer from AUT who hugely influenced Prof. Schnoor’s work as an expert on Pacific spaces, art and architecture.
Prof. Schnoor was especially touched by the presence of many of his former students, whose careers he helped launch.
“It’s a school that feels like family – it’s wonderful to see so many of my students, past and present here,” he says.
Prof. Schnoor has been the primary supervisor for over fifty research master’s students at Unitec, providing numerous opportunities for students to go on field trips and exchanges to enhance their learning.
“These trips have been fabulous opportunities to take students around to the world and discover things which contributed to their research,” he says.
Preparing for the Professorial Address had been a time of emotional upheaval, a time of reflection and remembering, he says.
“I felt silent inside. I thought to myself, ‘what on Earth have I done to deserve standing here today?”
“Then I realised my work had been different from others. It was perhaps quite diverse because it has looked to Europe, New Zealand, and to the Pacific.”
From Germany to Samoa
Prof. Schnoor’s presentation ‘On Being Wrong’ focused on the guiding principle of his research over the past three decades.
“A fundamental principle of research is the openness to new findings, as if one worked as a detective,” he explains.
“It has helped in my research on modernist architecture in Europe, particularly on Le Corbusier, on the condition of émigré architecture – through Ernst Plischke, an Austrian architect who worked in New Zealand for nearly 25 years – and in the research of architecture in Samoa, both colonial and ‘blended’.”
In pursuit of new horizons, researchers need to repeatedly question their own assumptions, using a research project in Samoa he was involved in last year which investigated the restoration of the former Head of State’s residence, to illustrate this point.
Prof Schnoor moved to New Zealand in 2004 which not only introduced him to Unitec, it also heralded a shift in research focus.
“People recognised my work overseas, but it didn’t seem to resonate here in New Zealand,” he remembers.
In response, he diverted his focus to the Pacific and the work of Ernst Plischke, an Austrian architect who worked in New Zealand and in the research of architecture in Samoa.
At Unitec, he met Wilhelm Schaaffhausen, a second-year architecture student who introduced himself as the great-grandson of Albert Schaaffhausen (1876-1960), a German-born architect who worked for the German Colonial Administration in Samoa.
This chance meeting sparked an interest in Pacific architecture and particularly, the building designs of the German colonial era in Samoa, leading to many visits to Samoa and pioneering contributions to the understanding of Schaaffhausen’s life and work.
In Samoa, Prof Schnoor embarked on a campaign to save the historic Courthouse in Apia from disrepair and demolition. The courthouse was designed by Schaaffhausen and built in 1902. It was recognised as an authentic example of colonial-era architecture that can no longer be found in the region, according to architecture experts. It later became the seat of power for the newly established independent Western Samoa government in 1962. Despite Prof. Schnoor’s best efforts, however, the Samoa Government made the decision in 2020 to demolish the courthouse.
Legacy
According to Emeritus Prof. Williams, Prof Schnoor is “one of the few from Unitec who has carried the prestigious responsibility of serving as a national expert panellist in New Zealand’s formative-based research framework.”
Christoph was the convenor of the 31st Annual Conference of the Society of Architectural Historians, Australia and New Zealand (SAHANZ); the peak body for architectural scholarship in our region, held at Unitec in July 2014, as well as serving as SAHANZ’s President from 2015-2017.
He was also a panel member of the ETA (Engineering, Technology and Architecture) Panel for the 2018 PBRF round and is a corresponding member of the German Archaeological Society.
Christoph has contributed prolifically to several other institutes in Vienna, New York, Dunedin and Paris, being a driving force in the exchange between University of Applied Sciences – Hochschule Wismar in Germany and Unitec, through his engagement in the history and theory of architecture.
Prof Schnoor is one of the world authorities on Swiss-French designer and painter Le Corbusier.
He has published extensively on modernist architecture, more recently his books, Le Corbusier’s practical aesthetic of the city (London: Routledge) and Ernst Plischke: Architekt zwischen den Welten (Zurich: Park Books) were published in 2020.