Facts: - death place: wellington , new zealand - residence: skybox , 26egmont st , wellington , new zealand - significant buildings: signal box , sky box , samurai house - imaze size: 280px - death date: 22 december 2012 - name: gerald melling - ethnicity: british - nationality: british / new zealander - website: -lsb- http://www.mellingmorse.co.nz/ melling -rsb- - birth place: liverpool , england - birth year: yes 1943 y - occupation: architect , editor , poet , novelist , journalist , author Based on these bullet points, write a short biography describing the life of gerald melling .
Answer:
gerald john melling -lrb- 1943 - 22 december 2012 -rrb- was an english-born , architect , poet , novelist , journalist , author and editor .gerald melling came to his craft by an unconventional route and he brings his unique brand of liverpudlian humour and a fair measure of beatles ' - style anti-establishmentarianism to the poetic little buildings he nurtures .he wrote his first novel before he was even 20 years old , a free and restless spirit who has pursued his passions for architecture , literature and journalism for more than four decades .also one of the most controversial speaker of his time , he is witty and at times his caustic comments may have offended many .nobody 's soldier that was a word to describe gerald melling .he believed low cost housing did not have to be drab and dull , but instead could be innovative and inspirational .in 2010 , he told the dominion post : '' i wanted to show that architects could work on a modest level .i love architecture , but not the profession .how professional is it to turn away someone with $ 300,000 and say , ' i ca n't work with you unless you have $ 800,000 ' . ''following the boxing day tsunami in 2004 , he designed almost 50 houses and a community centre along the south coast of sri lanka , eventually writing a book called tsunami box about his experiences .he was always interested in low cost housing , he stated in an interview with john walsh : '' where architects are needed they 're not going .we really need architects to engage in low cost housing .what i want to see is good , experienced architects engaging in this .that 's what it needs .it 's one of the hardest things there is to do , low cost housing , to make an environment for people that really supports them . ''