Ontwerp­wetenschappen

Lezing Nigel Isaacs. The lecture will focus on the exploration of the many facets of nails: sex, warfare, capitalism, industrial development and technology in New Zealand from 1840s to 1910s

Nails in the City - 18 oktober 2016

‘Nails in the City – dr. Nigel Isaacs
Tuesday 18 October 2016 - 10h00 - Aula Dieperik

Faculteit Ontwerpwetenschappen
Mutsaardstraat 31 - 2000 Antwerpen


Nails in the City – An exploration of the many facets of nails: sex, warfare, capitalism, industrial development and technology in New Zealand from 1840s to 1910s. When Captain James Cook arrived in the Pacific in 1759, there were no metal tools or products, but that quickly changed with wire nails playing a wide range of roles. NZ import statistics from 1869 to 1910 suggests British and American nails –cut or wire – were sufficient for timber frame house building industry. Patent specifications, trade directories and newspapers show production evidence of lead head roofing nails from 1883, the manufacture of wire nails for use in lead head nail production by 1886 and wire nails for separate sale by 1897, although it was not until the 1910s that local manufacture started to play a significant role.

Dr. Nigel Isaacs is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Architecture, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. He has been awarded a Fulbright Scholarship (November 2016 to February 2017) to study the archives of the first US national building code in 1922. This became the base for the first New Zealand national building code in 1924, and its impact can still be seen in the modern building code.