Fiji Loses Pioneer Architect Huggett
The late Stuart Huggett, a prolific and passionate architect who refused to give up on Fiji, often said if he had a second chance at life, he would be an actor.
Stu, as he was better known, died on September 10 in Suva, survived by his five siblings and four children.
The British-born father-figure of the local architecture industry, established Architects Pacific Limited 50 years ago in Suva.
His daughter, Amitia, who was born in Fiji now manages the business as its managing director.
Stu’s legacy
Stu, his wife Gilly, and their then two daughters moved to Fiji in 1969, where he started off as resident architect at the University of the South Pacific.
Stu and Gilly founded Architects Pacific in Suva in 1971, and never looked back.
The couple had worked in Nigeria for the United Kingdom Government in the mid 1960s, when civil war broke out.
“This was near the time that they decided that they needed to settle in Fiji,” Amitia said.
“Mum and Dad were struggling financially when they came from the United Kingdom.
“He described the scene as ‘living off milk crates’.”
The initial family of four arrived in Fiji with three suitcases, and a rundown short wheel based Defender.
Their two older children were under the age of three.
Amitia and her brother were born in Suva in the 1980s.
Architects Pacific was Stu’s baby, Amitia said.
“He loved architecture and design, but most of all, he loved people.
“He loved making a change and doing good, and he used Architects Pacific as a vessel to try to do exactly that.”
Each job and each client was precious to him, Amitia said.
The reputation of the company was built on the level of care and integrity that still runs true today, she said.
Another of his legacy was his children, Amitia said.
“This is not just his biological, but also all the staff, those current and those historical,” she said.
“They have always been so important to Stu, who was always the first to try to teach the juniors as much as he could, to make sure they rose.
“He was dedicated to us all, the same way he was dedicated to Fiji.”
But his knowledge was not always confined to architecture, Amitia said.
Stu was always the first in the office in the mornings, and the last to leave in the evenings, she said.
He was trusting and trustworthy, Amitia said.
“He had an incredible gift to make sure everyone was able to have a good time, and a good laugh, offence at his expense,” she said.
“He loved his work, and it was his hobby.”
Every moment for him was treated with lighthearted jest, Amitia said.
“His fun nature really made all of us look forward to coming to work,” she said.
“A great man, intelligent, warm, friendly, honest, and most of all endlessly entertaining.”
Stu guided the company out of some very uncertain and dark times with such a peaceful and optimistic attitude, Amitia said.
“He truly was the eternal optimist,” she said.
“Nothing ever brought him down.”
According to Amitia, Stu’s line was often “Everything always works itself out in the end, no need to worry”.
He’s other interests were history, politics and astronomy.
Some fun facts about Stu
Stu and some of his mates from University in Bristol decided they would cross from England all the way to India in a Kombi Van in the 1960s, Amitia said.
“They made it to the Jaipur Palace in one piece,” she said.
“He always said that trying to do that now would be near impossible, be-cause of strict border control and war.”
He loved a good single malt whiskey, and never shied away from a bowl of kava, Amitia said.
Ironing clothes was one of his many joys - it calmed him, she said.
“His pet hate was for anything
Microsoft - he was an Apple man, through and through,” Amitia said.
“He was not very good at being alone.
“He would ensure he was always surrounded by people, or at least have someone to go to the supermarket with.”
His most favourite thing in the world was blasting Handel or Bach early morning in the office while staff arrived, after which he would proceed to give his staff a music and history lesson, Amitia said.
Not many knew that he loved to be on a plane.
“He loved travelling, but being on a plane was his happy place.”
Business Expansion Plans
Architects Pacific is based at Amy Street, Toorak, Suva.
“What has been increasingly happening in our field is that we are having to look at ways of diversifying our skills sets and, thereby, our income to survive,” Amitia said. “We have started three branches of Architects Pacific Ltd which is Architects Pacific Design, Archi
tects Pacific Developments and Architects Pacific Properties.
“With these three arms of the company, we aim to grow more, pushing and supporting each other as we do.”
Across all three firms, a total of over 30 staff are employed.
“We envisage this will only increase as we progress,” Amitia said.