The 2018 New Zealand Institute of Architects Student Design Awards was won by Emily Newmarch of Victoria University of Wellington. The Awards, which are supported by Resene, invite fifth-year students from the country’s three architecture schools to compete for a top prize of $5000.

Students from the University of Auckland, Unitec and Victoria University of Wellington presented projects to a panel of judges on 28 and 29 November at St Matthew in the City in Auckland. 

Newmarch’s winning project was called Climatic Conscience for Dwelling Design and it looked at the thermal and energy peformance of houses in Central Otago. The jury noted that her work “reconciles the pragmatic requirements and poetic possibilities of architecture”.

The Awards’ jury was made up of NZIA president Tim Melville, Nelson architect Rachel Dodd and international judge Iain Maxwell, a Sydney architect.

Two highly commmended awards were given to Icao Tiseli and Annie Tong, both students at the University of Auckland. Tiseli’s project, Mapping the Feke, was “a rich and resonant scheme that draws on Tongan traditions of mapping and celestial navigation to locate a people at the centre of their wide and watery world”, the judges said.

Tong’s project was titled The Fleeting Acts, and the judges described it as “a beautifully drawn and highly atmospheric exploration of Auckland city”.

Jury convenor Tim Melville said that the judges were impressed by the promise and potential that the students showed. “All the students whose work we judged are highly aware of the environmental, cultural and technological issues that confront us. This competition gives me hope that the next generation of architects will rise to the challenges our society has bequeathed them,” he said.