Interior Awards 2023, Emerging Design Professional Award winner

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Oli Booth, winner of the 2023 Emerging Design Professional Award. Image: Sam Hartnett

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Lightly Weighted, a residential project in Grey Lynn, Auckland by Oli Booth Architecture. Image: Sam Hartnett

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Lake Rotoroa house by Oli Booth Architecture. Image: Sam Hartnett

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Congratulations to this year’s Emerging Design Professional Award winner - Oli Booth of Oli Booth Architecture.

The jury’s comment:

“The maturity and level of craft evident in Oli’s work is that of a generational talent. Placing equal value and emphasis on both interior and exterior, his outcomes demonstrate a perfect balance between hard work and elegantly realised design. He confidently displays a passion and energy for expressing the milieu and landscape of Aotearoa in his work. Oli’s beautifully crafted Behind Closed Doors and Lake Rotoroa House artistically resolve complex spatial issues, while Lightly Weighted (short-listed in the Residential category) illustrates great discipline and bravery in creating a perfectly formed, jewel-like interior, utilising every last millimetre of available space within an impossibly small footprint. It is this kind of thinking that our industry should be embracing: bigger is not always better.”

Lightly Weighted, a residential project in Grey Lynn, Auckland by Oli Booth Architecture. Image: Sam Hartnett

Design practice: Oli Booth Architecture

Projects:

Lightly Weighted, Grey Lynn (residential house)
Lake Rotorua, Hamilton (residential house)
Behind Closed Doors, Herne Bay (residential house)
Ōmiha, Waiheke Island (residential house)
Outpost, Waiheke Island (residential house)

“My design philosophy is to elevate the human experience through harnessed narrative and amplified beauty. This ambition is grounded in an intentional design practice that utilises storytelling and pays homage to the beauty found in detail, quality and environment. Particularly, I seek to understand how our landscapes, alongside a keen understanding of each client’s routines, can inform a grounded and curated response to environment. I aim to create meaningful design solutions that are crafted carefully in response to each client’s needs. The combination of these two elements (context and behaviours) create moments, which become embedded throughout a space and ultimately inform the architectural response. This understanding of context and behaviours is hugely important to me as it creates a platform for connection — this connection allows a bond between the people, space and landscape which is deeply personal and tailored to their lifestyles.” - Oli Booth.

Watch the finalist presentation here: