Ron Sang

INFO

Name	Ron Sang
Born	1938
Died	2021
Country of Birth	Fiji
Place of Residence	Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland
Ethnicities	Chinese
Artform	Design, Architecture
Decades Active	1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, 2010s

ABOUT

Ron Sang was an architect, art collector, publisher, and the founder of Sang Architects & Company Limited and Ron Sang Publications. Born in Suva, Fiji to Chinese migrant parents, Sang helped in their family’s shop, where they sold toasted sandwiches and ice cream, and attended a local Indian primary school. This multicultural upbringing allowed him to learn four languages: Cantonese, Hindi, Fijian and English.

At the age of 18, Sang moved to Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland to attend St Peter’s College and gain university entrance. He then attended the University of Auckland's School of Architecture. Sang explained:

There was a shortage of architects in Auckland when I began my architectural career in 1958. After five gruelling years of study, there were only twenty of us left from a class of 60 who graduated with me in 1964. I was the only Chinese student in my year.

After working for a large architectural firm and realising that he would not be able to become a partner at a firm of this scale, he left to join Mark-Brown Fairhead. The addition of Sang in 1969 made it Mark-Brown Fairhead Sang. After the retirement of Allan Fairhead, the firm disbanded, which led to Sang establishing Sang Architects & Company Limited in 1988, the family company that Sang led until his retirement in 2017.

His most well-known architectural design is the Brake house, which he designed with his colleague Simon Carnachan. The house was named after the original owner of the house who commissioned its construction, the photographer Brian Brake. The Japanese-inspired home is nestled in the Waitakere Ranges in Titirangi. Sang was introduced to Brake through artist Guy Ngan. Brake initially wanted a traditional Japanese farmhouse built on the land, but Sang understood that the area's dense bush and native trees made that design impossible. Eventually, Sang compromised with Brake and built a modern home with Asian elements that became one of country’s most iconic architecturally designed homes, described by Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga as “a key Modern Movement building of New Zealand", awarded Category 1 Heritage Site status and an Enduring Architecture Award from the New Zealand Institute of Architecture (NZIA) in 2001.

In 1986 Fairhead Sang Carnachan was commissioned to design the Choice Plaza building on the corner of Wellesley Street and Lorne Street in the Tāmaki Makarau CBD. Formerly known as Orient Towers, Sang built a 12-storey pagoda-style office building with dark glass and bright red panels between each floor. Using traditionally auspicious colours in Chinese culture within the design, and pointed upturned curved corners mimicking those of a pagoda, created a distinctly Chinese-looking building in the central city.

Sang regularly incorporated elements of feng shui into his designs, like the monumental front doors that became a signature element in his architectural builds. Some are double the height of a regular door and over a metre wide. Sang explained that “one of the reasons you have big doors is when you open them, they let the energy in."

He designed his own home with a large red front door. The 429-square-metre five-bedroom home was built amongst many trees. The house features two volumes connected by a glass bridge. A rectangular section contains the kitchen, family living area, garage and office and a more formal section in the shape of a semi-circle contains one bedroom and the living room, where most of Sang's art collection was kept. Also on the property was a sculptural spa and pool, designed by landscape architect Ted Smythe.

Sang was a keen art collector, beginning his collecting in 1970, largely purchasing paintings, sculptures and pottery by Aotearoa artists. He had a prominent art collection that he would allow various university student groups and art groups to view for a small fee that he would then give to various charities, including the Chinese Lifeline and Auckland Art Gallery. His home was filled with the art that he had been collecting throughout his life, including a large collection of Len Castle’s pottery and pieces by prominent Aotearoa artists. Much of his collection was sold in two parts, the first in 2015, and the second in 2023, totalling 426 pieces of art and furniture.

Sang was one of the trustees of the Chinese New Zealanders Millennium Trust, which organised and funded Millennium Tree, a sculpture designed by Guy Ngan in the Auckland Domain. In 2000 he was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for his contribution to architecture and the arts.

That same year he started the publishing house Ron Sang Publications, which largely printed monographs of artists like Michael Smither, John Drawbridge, Ralph Hotere, Guy Ngan, Vincent Ward, Pat Hanly, Greer Twiss, Mervyn Williams and Robert Ellis. The first book they published, Len Castle: Potter won a Montana NZ Book award in 2003.

LINKS

Sang Architects website

Ron Sang’s obituary — Architecture Now

Profile of Ron Sang on the Brake House website

Interview with Ron Sang — Stuff

Key works / presentations

Published by Ron Sang Publications:

2016 — Chester Nealie
2014 — Robert Ellis
2014 — Mervyn Williams
2014 — Greer Twiss
2013 — Pat Hanly
2012 — Vincent Ward
2010 — Guy Ngan
2008 — John Drawbridge
2008 — Hotere
2004 — Michael Smither
2002 — Len Castle: Potter