| Louise Wright | |
| Birth Place: | New Zealand |
| Occupation: | Architect |
| Alma Mater: | Victoria University of Wellington |
| Spouse: | Justin Wright |
| Practice: | Assembly Architects |
| Significant Buildings: | The Sawtooth House |
Louise Wright (née Ryan) is a New Zealand Māori architect.[1] She is of Te Arawa, Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Te Aitanga-a-Māhaki, Te Aitanga-a-Hauiti and Rongowhakaata descent.[2]
Wright studied architecture at Victoria University of Wellington, where she won a scholarship to study for a semester in Rome, Italy. After graduating, she worked for Ian Athfield's firm, Athfield Architects, for five years.[3]
In 2005 she co-founded Assembly Architects, which focused on residential work and projects for Wellington Zoo.[4] In 2012 the practice moved to Arrowtown, in the South Island of New Zealand, and began to specialise in high-end homes.[5] [6] Thermal performance in construction has become a focus of Wright's work, and rammed earth construction is a feature of many of her designs.
In 2017 Wright was the convener of the awards jury for the New Zealand Architecture Awards.[7] In 2014 she was appointed to the New Zealand Registered Architects Board.[8] Wright is active in the Southern Lakes district, as a member of the Jack's Point Design Review Board and the Arrowtown Planning Advisory Group.
In 2013, a pavilion at Wellington Zoo, co-designed by Wright and two colleagues, won a New Zealand Architecture Award for Small Project Architecture. In 2017 The Sawtooth House, co-designed by Wright, won a housing award at the New Zealand Institute of Architects Southern Architecture Awards.[9] [10] In 2020, Wright won the Wirihana Leadership Award at the Architecture + Women NZ Dulux Awards.
Wright is married to fellow architect Justin Wright. The couple have three children.