On 9 November, set against the backdrop of Spring in Otago, Te Kāhui Whaihanga New Zealand Institute of Architects announced the best architectural projects of the year at the Queenstown Events Centre. Nineteen buildings, spanning the country from Great Barrier Island to Dunedin, were honoured in 12 categories. 

The 2019 jury was made up of convenor and Auckland architect Malcom Walker, Auckland architect Jeff Fearon, Christchurch architect Melanda Slemint and an international juror from Sydney, Penny Fuller.The judges travelled to each of the 45 projects that made the shortlist before selecting the winners.

See below for a full list of winners with jury commentary. Pick up a copy of November/December issue of Architecture New Zealand for further coverage of the Awards, including on the President’s Awards and Distinguished Fellows awarded on the night.

JOHN SCOTT AWARD FOR PUBLIC ARCHITECTURE:

Tūranga by Architectus and Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects

Judges said: “Tūranga is a building of distinction, which admirably fulfils its function as Christchurch’s main library and, also, with its strong but not overbearing presence, makes a very important contribution to the shaping of the Square and the signifying of the public realm of the central city. The collaboration with Matapopore Charitable Trust and Ngāi Tūāhuririri has been thoroughgoing and influential, informing the experience of whakamanuhiri, the ‘bringing in’ of visitors and their ascent via generous and well-crafted stairways, which rise through a light-filled atrium in a manner suggestive of the passage of the mythical hero Tāwhaki to the heavens.” 

Read the full commentary and project description here…

TED MCCOY AWARD FOR EDUCATION: 

Ngā Wai Hono AUT School of Engineering, Computer and Mathematical Sciences (ECMS) Building by Jasmax

Judges said: “This complex building expresses AUT’s determination to maximise the potential of a tight and convoluted urban site by successfully combining insertion with integration. The ECMS building gives AUT a definite presence on Symonds Street and achieves a welcome generosity via the impressive, light-filled common space of a 12-levelled atrium.”

Read the full commentary and project description here… 

SIR IAN ATHFIELD AWARD FOR HOUSING:

Wynyard Central East 2 by Architectus

Judges said: “In a bold and confident response to a unique opportunity, the architects have produced a sophisticated tripartite multi-unit housing project without local precedent. The prioritising of architectural quality and amenity has benefited the inhabitants of the Wynyard Central East 2 complex while enhancing the public realm of the neighbourhood. The apartment terraces are atypically generous and the inclusion of mews houses is a welcome surprise; on a highly visible site, privacy is well handled, as is ventilation in all dwellings.” 

Read the full commentary and project description here…

SIR MILES WARREN AWARD FOR COMMERCIAL ARCHITECTURE: 

12 Madden by Warren and Mahoney

Judges said: “12 Madden is an exemplary early manifestation of the intent of a master plan that envisages a lively precinct of mixed-use buildings, both new and old, arranged around laneways providing connectivity and urban grain. As befits a building in an area quickly and self-consciously transitioning from industrial backwater to innovation hub, 12 Madden alludes to the past in its rugged materiality and looks to the future with its flexible and dynamic plan.”

Read the full commentary and project description here…

COMMERCIAL ARCHITECTURE AWARD:

20 Customhouse Quay by Studio Pacific Architecture

Judges said: “On a prominent waterfront site, this building makes a bold statement, as the client intended it would. The shiny, faceted façade on the building’s seaward side suggests the diagrid structure which, together with base isolation technology, provides 20 Customhouse Quay’s seismic resilience. The well-constructed building succeeds as an object in the urban topography of downtown Wellington; it is an assured piece of shape-making, presenting a mirror to the changing moods of the city’s weather and enlivening the harbourscape with the reflected play of natural light.”

HOSPITALITY AWARD: 

Lindis Lodge by Architecture Workshop

Judges said: “Lindis Lodge is an adventurous and deeply considered response to the challenges of designing an isolated building in an awe-inspiring landscape. The architect has kept low to the ground plane, conceptualising the building as part of the land or, rather, as another layer of the local moraine topography. The sweeping roof form, which is the building’s signature gesture, is a tribute to the close collaboration, and persistence, of architect and engineer Alistair Cattanach. Throughout, the layering of materials is well handled and effective, and the lodge offers guests a privileged experience in a special place. The architect has worked with sensitivity to reconcile the requirements of the client with the deference owed to the surrounding natural environment.”

ENDURING ARCHITECTURE AWARD: 

Athfield Home and Office by Athfield Architects

Judges said: “Amritsar, or the Athfield House, is one of the great stories of New Zealand architecture. In 2000, when the already-sprawling house had been spreading for more than 30 years, the editor of The Architectural Review described it as ‘one of the most wonderful houses of the twentieth century’. It is impossible to separate the house from its creator; in many ways, Amritsar is Ath’s built manifesto, his own narrative in concrete. The house says so much about Ath’s philosophy of living, as well as his approach to architecture: not that, in his case, the two can be separated. Over time, the house became a village, a site where many people live and even more work. It was where Ath tried things out for 50 years, attempting to reconcile the pleasures of communal life with the need for privacy, wrestling with the challenges of completion, and even reaching an eventual understanding with the local council. Long may Amritsar survive and adapt, and continue to nurture its residents and inspire its city.”

INTERIOR ARCHITECTURE AWARD:

B:HIVE by BVN and Jasmax, in association

Judges said: “With B:Hive, client and architect set out to rethink the purpose and character of a commercial building, and the result is a highly innovative, contemporary working environment: lively but legible, diverse but well-structured, and evidently popular and successful. The sculptural staircase at the heart of the building works well as a focal point and social fulcrum for the community of building users as it twists its way up through the light-bathed atrium to connect the various mezzanines. Inside its functional exterior, the building is a whole new world, well-serviced and healthily ventilated, and offering a multitude of flexible and easily reconfigured spaces for a wide variety of small business users.”

HOUSING – MULTI UNIT AWARD:

Chen Anselmi Units by Bull O’Sullivan Architecture

Judges said: “With skill, imagination and discipline, the architects – who were their own clients – have placed two units on half a suburban lot, extracting the most from their budget and site. The architecture is necessarily reductive but never mean; the design delivers many clever solutions and unexpected moments. While tight physical and fiscal parameters put a premium on efficiency, the architects have managed to achieve spatial delight. They have deftly handled natural light and made good colour choices, and the sensitivity they have demonstrated towards their own living environment is matched by the consideration they have shown to their neighbours. This is an exemplary piece of work – a masterclass in achieving more within less.”

HOUSING – ALTERATIONS AND ADDITIONS AWARD:

Menzies POP! by Architectsʼ Creative

Judges said: “In this imaginative project – an exercise in out-and-out bespoke design – a 1940s’ concrete house in the Christchurch beachside suburb of Sumner has been refurbished, reworked and extended upwards to meet the needs of its young architects and their family. The house is an intrepid self-experiment in small living; the design offers many surprises as every bit of space is pressed into habitational service. New and old elements are clearly distinguished, but they have in common crisp and careful detailing. The house is an assemblage of contained spaces and an idiosyncratic expression of architectural passion.”

HOUSING AWARDS: 

Pinwheel House by architecture +

Judges said: “Imaginative planning and excellent fabrication have produced a beguiling house that responds very effectively to local climate and weather conditions, and to the requirements of the clients. The design is underpinned by strong ideas referencing the courtyard houses of Mies van der Rohe and the geometries of the De Stijl movement, and these ideas have been convincingly carried through to provide a sequence of spaces offering both shelter and stimulus. The ‘pinwheel’ plan that generates the house’s courtyards expresses a disciplined but non-hierarchical formal approach – no elevation is privileged – that suits a holiday home in a relaxed island environment. The house is animated by its textural qualities and layered detailing, and by the lovely play of natural light.” 

Arrowtown House by RTA Studio

Judges said: “A bold composition for artist clients, the Arrowtown House deploys the traditional building and industrial materials of Central Otago to, literally, ground its constituent elements in the landscape. Following the contours of the land, an assemblage of pavilions is oriented towards the natural features of the Wakatipu Basin. The project is as much an exercise in the creation of a site as it is in the design of a home, and it is an extraordinary experience to contemplate the house in its setting. The material approach pursued on the exterior is echoed inside a house that is well suited to the requirements of clients who have a strong appreciation of sculptural form-making and material expressiveness.”

HERITAGE AWARDS: 

Rose Historic Chapel by Dave Pearson Architects

Judges said: “In a meticulous exercise in reconstruction, the architect has restored a 1910 chapel, which was designed by the prominent Christchurch firm of AS and ES Luttrell, and severely damaged in the Canterbury earthquakes a century later.  New or replacement materials, such as Oamaru Stone cladding and a spiral staircase, were carefully selected and sourced to complement salvaged elements such as the tiled floor, basalt stone and limestone blocks, and stained-glass windows. The necessary seismic strengthening of foundations, walls and roof has been handled with a sensitive regard for the need for discrete effect, and the internal plasterwork, painting and woodwork demonstrate a high level of craft. The architect has orchestrated this project with a sure hand and exemplary attention to detail – and it shows.”

Nelson House Alteration by Sharon Jansen Architect

Judges said: “Respectful restoration and skilful intervention have brought new and joyful life to a little-known house designed by Ernst Plischke, one of the most important figures in New Zealand modernist architecture. The architect has worked with a light touch and disciplined restraint, excavating through accretions to capture the spirit of Plischke’s original intent. Sufficiency, not superfluity, is the hallmark of this project; the architect understood just how much had to be done, and undone, to revive the early 1960s’ house. The architect worked assiduously in meeting her clients’ requirements and informing their expectations, and in steering an unusual modernist heritage project through council processes.” 

SMALL PROJECT ARCHITECTURE AWARDS:

Kōwhai House by Rafe Maclean Architects

Judges said: “This resolutely internal house, sited on a steep and marginal site, successfully fulfils its purpose as an urban retreat. Providing compact but comfortable accommodation for four people, the small dwelling is a timely exercise in sufficiency and the optimisation of resources and opportunity. Designed as an efficient thermal cocoon, the house also serves as a tree house, connected through its clever positioning and carefully framed views, with the wider view and more immediate surrounds, especially the kōwhai tree for which it is named. The house, which was designed for the architect’s own family, is an intriguing exercise in self-experimentation – a little box of inbuilt happiness.”

Bivvy House by Vaughn McQuarrie Ltd

Judges said: “This is definitely not a typical holiday house and was never intended as such. The adventurous clients are experienced hikers who are confident roughing it in the outdoors, and their preference for sufficiency over excess encouraged the architect to refine the design inspiration from hut to bivvy. Sitting on an existing flat platform, the masonry ‘bivvy’ opens to the north and closes to the south, offering warmth, reassuringly solid shelter, contemplative vantage points and just enough amenity. The building is well considered in scale and, for a small structure, provides a surprising range of spatial experiences. This is a clever and engaging piece of architecture.”

PLANNING & URBAN DESIGN AWARDS:

Ellen Melville Centre and Freyberg Place by Stevens Lawson Architects, Isthmus Group and John Reynolds, in association

Judges said: “A collaborative place-making process, involving architect, landscape architect and artist, has produced an urban amphitheatre that is a welcome oasis in the cityscape of downtown Auckland. The project connects Freyberg Place, now animated by a cascade of north-facing stairs, with the sensitively renovated Ellen Melville Centre, the listed historic building designed by Tibor Donner in the early 1960s, and brings square and building together as a unified composition. The playful intent of the design for Freyberg Place has been realised successfully, and its busy-but-relaxed occupation is testament to the popularity of this valuable civic asset.”

Kumutoto Pavilion by Isthmus Group

Judges said: “This edgy little pavilion – playful and allusive, both sculpture and shelter – is a welcome addition to Wellington’s urban littoral. The project, which comprehends the adjacent landscaping and wider public space, is as much about site as about structure: the footprint reaches down to a new section of harbour edge and a mini-canal; a batten wall offers a fold of protection against the southerly wind; and the capital’s tectonic condition is overtly acknowledged in the pavilion’s folded timber decking and contorted canopy form. The notion of the long lunch is amusingly and, given the pavilion’s location and economy of enclosure, optimistically expressed in the communal dining table that faces out to the harbour.”

PUBLIC ARCHITECTURE AWARD:

Lakeside Soldiers Memorial Hall by Architecture Workshop

Judges said: “The Lakeside Soldiers Memorial Hall replaces the original 1917 hall, demolished after the 2010–11 Canterbury earthquakes, and its design is testament to the memory of its predecessor and the sacrifices it commemorated, and to the continued importance of this type of facility in New Zealand rural communities. The design is alive to the historical and social resonances of the memorial hall, and to the circumstances of contemporary use. A good relationship between architect and client has informed the design of a building sufficiently flexible to accommodate a variety of events and occasions, while the architect’s sympathetic understanding of the cultural significance of the project has made for an appropriate conciliation between pragmatic requirements and poetic expression.” 

The New Zealand Architecture Awards is a programme run by Te Kāhui Whaihanga New Zealand Institute of Architects and proudly supported by Resene.