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The New Zealand Institute of Architects names its 15 favourite designs

Article by Paperboy

The New Zealand Institute of Architects has announced their 15 favourite designs, which just so happen to be some of ours too

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The New Zealand Institute of Architects names its 15 favourite designs

Each year the New Zealand Institute of Architects chooses the country’s best buildings. A jury of architects (including a practitioner from abroad) tours the nation to visit structures selected from the institute’s regional winners. Here, we present the big winners of the four main categories – Public Architecture, Housing, Commercial Architecture and Education – as well as other Auckland buildings honoured with national awards.

1. The John Scott award for Public Architecture

LightPath/Canada Street Bridge, Auckland
Monk Mackenzie with LandLAB, GHD and Novare

It’s that pink path again! And rightly so. The New Zealand Institute of Architects announced its New Zealand Architecture Awards last weekend, and LightPath (and the connecting, curvaceous Canada Street Bridge) took out the prize for public architecture.

Designed by Monk Mackenzie Architects (with GHD, Novare and Henry Crothers of LandLAB), the LightPath is one of those structures that instantly becomes a visible marker of change in the life of a city and the way its residents perceive it. It also, critically, marks the city as a place where cyclists are finally welcome, where a former offramp for cars can be transformed into a potent symbol of progress.

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2. The Sir Ian Athfield Award for Housing

Zavos Corner apartments, Wellington
Parsonson Architects

The New Zealand Institute of Architects’ top award for housing goes to Wellington’s Zavos Corner apartments by Parsonson Architects. Commissioned by a thoughtful developer with an eye on long-term value (the apartments are all rentals), the Mount Victoria block cleverly slots eight apartments onto a site once occupied by a single, much-altered villa.

Each apartment – they range in size from studios to two bedrooms – has a different floor plan and plenty of natural light, while the exterior playfully references the rooflines of the heritage neighbourhood. Take note, Auckland: well-designed density isn’t scary at all.

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3. The Ted McCoy Award for Education

Te Kura Kaupapa Maori o Ngati Kahungunu, Wairoa
RTA Studio

This new school on the North Island’s east coast was designed to inspire its students, and it’s easy to see how it does that. It’s a centre of modern learning with strong links to the past, providing spaces that can be used by the school and the community at large.

There are bright (but never infantile) colours, flexible open-plan classrooms and outdoor learning areas. The building was designed collaboratively with Ngati Kahungunu, the clients, and it’s a project that shows how a tight budget doesn’t have to constrain the creation of an uplifting environment.

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4. The Sir Miles Warren Award for Commercial Architecture

Annandale Farm, Banks Peninsula
Pattersons

Three buildings, one client, one firm: Annandale Farm on Canterbury’s Banks Peninsula is a beautiful landscape, and is also now home to a rich variety of luxury holiday rentals, all designed by Pattersons. Seascape is like a Bond villain’s glamorous lair, a one-bedroom retreat in one of the farm’s rocky bays.

The farm’s old homestead (also restored by Pattersons) is complemented by a pool and pool house under a dramatic roof that tilts towards views of the hills behind. And the Scrubby Bay homestead is a contemporary rendition of a farmhouse, its cedar skin blending with the bleached grasses that surround it. It’s an ambitious project that feels like something out of a dream.

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5. NZ Architecture Award winners in Auckland (or by Auckland architects)

Devonport Library Te Pataka Korero o Te Hau Kapua
Athfield Architects

Public Architecture

The handsome Devonport building was an instant hit when it opened, boosting visitor numbers and library card sign-ups. No surprise, then, that it was praised by the NZ Institute of Architects’ jury as “a valued community asset”.

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6. Cardrona Hut

Cardrona Valley
RTA Studio
Small Project Architecture

Richard Naish of RTA Studio won a Small Project award for his own Central Otago getaway. The building is both compact and charming, with bedroom and living areas separated by a stone-floored, covered outdoor space sheltered behind cedar screens.

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7. Bramasole House

Waimauku
Herbst Architects
Housing

This house in Auckland’s rural west extends its form into the landscape, setting up an environment of simple building forms fused with quiet courtyards, elegant interior spaces and thoughtfully sheltered terraces.

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8. E-Type House

Grey Lynn
RTA Studio
Housing

Architect Richard Naish’s family home in Grey Lynn – which also won HOME magazine’s 2015 Home of the Year award – riffs on the rooflines of neighbouring villas, showing how contemporary architecture can fit beautifully into a heritage neighbourhood.

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9. K Valley House

Thames
Herbst Architects
Housing

Auckland-based Herbst Architects picked up HOME magazine’s 2016 Home of the Year award for this rustic, sculptural beauty on the Coromandel Peninsula, and can now add a New Zealand Architecture Award to the trophy cabinet.

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10. Number 5

Waiheke Island
Architectus
Housing

The jury applauded this addition of self-contained guest accommodation to a Waiheke Island property for its creation of a sheltered courtyard and the sensitive connections to the original home, designed by Architectus 20 years earlier.

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11. Belmont Garden Room

Mitchell & Stout Architects and
Rachel Dodd
Belmont
Housing – Alterations and Additions

The awards aren’t just about big architectural statements, as this prize for a small addition to architects Julian Mitchell and Rachel Dodd’s own North Shore home shows. The couple created a peaceful extension and outdoor room for their former state house, using recycled materials and citing both mid-century and Japanese influences.

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12. St Cuthbert’s College Centennial Centre for Wellbeing

Epsom
Architectus and Architecture HDT
Education

The Auckland high school’s new swimming pool was praised for its creation of a high-quality, multi-purpose space filled with natural light.

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13. Fold House

Bay of Islands
Bossley Architects
Housing

Auckland architect Pete Bossley designed this substantial getaway in the Bay of Islands with folded roof planes surrounding a grassy open space.

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14. Studio and Garden Room

Sunnyhills, Pakuranga
Lynda Simmons
Small Project Architecture

This little east Auckland project reconceived a carport and garage into a studio and garden room, reclaiming space from cars and enlivening it with a ceiling pattern based on a lithograph by John Pule.

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15. Fortieth and Hurstmere

Takapuna
McKinney + Windeatt
Hospitality and Retail

The NZ Institute of Architects’ jury praised this Takapuna development as “transformational” for its reinvention of an existing building to create a cafe-lined laneway and courtyard.

Words by: Jermey Hansen. Photography by: Russ Flatt, Jeff Brass, Patrick Reynolds, Simon Devitt, Jason Mann, Andrew Lowe and David Straight

This article was first published in Paperboy magazine

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