The Futuna Chapel Trust is delighted to announce the 2026 Futuna Lecture Series, presented as part of the Aotearoa Festival of Architecture. This year’s series will feature Australian documentary maker Catherine Hunter and Sydney-based architect and author Nick Sissons.
Drawing on their long and close working relationships with acclaimed Australian architect Glenn Murcutt, the 2002 Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate, Hunter and Sissons will present a compelling double-header of architectural insights, stories, and reflections for audiences across Aotearoa New Zealand and online.
The annual lecture series offers architects, designers, students, and architecture enthusiasts the opportunity to engage with leading international voices in architecture. CPD points will be available for registered architects.
Event details
Auckland: Saturday 19 September, St Mary’s-in-Holy Trinity, 6.30–8.30pm
Christchurch: Monday 21 September, St Andrew’s Centennial Chapel, 6.30–8.30pm
Wellington: Tuesday 22 September, Old St Paul’s, 6.30–8.30pm
Bookings available through Humanitix.
About the presenters
Catherine Hunter
Catherine Hunter with Glenn Murcutt in the Cobar Sound Chapel.
Catherine Hunter has worked in the arts as a writer, producer, and director for
more than 35 years. After two decades documenting the arts for the Nine Network’s acclaimed Sunday program, she became a freelance director and producer. Her documentary work has screened on ABC Arts, Australian Story, Landline, and Compass.
In 2017, Hunter was a finalist in Australia’s Walkley Documentary Award for Glenn Murcutt: Spirit of Place. She is also a three-time winner of the Australian Institute of Architects’ Adrian Ashton Award for architectural journalism.
Hunter is currently making a new film about Glenn Murcutt, who celebrates his 90th birthday in July 2026.
Nick Sissons
Nick Sissons studied architecture at the University of Technology Sydney, graduating with Honours. In 1997, he worked as an assistant to Glenn Murcutt on the Fletcher-Page House in Kangaroo Valley. After graduating, he travelled by motorcycle from Sydney to London, where he joined Foster and Partners. He later became a UK registered architect and member of the RIBA before returning to Australia in 2002, becoming a NSW registered architect and member of the Australian Institute of Architects.
Sissons established Sissons Architects in 2012, specialising in large and complex projects. The practice has undertaken a wide range of commercial work, including the award-winning heritage revitalisation of the Locomotive Workshop in South Eveleigh. He is the author of Glenn Murcutt: Unbuilt Projects, published by Thames & Hudson in 2024.