Colourful accountancy wins award

Friday, 30 July 2010, 12:54 pm
Press Release: Resene

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
30 July 2010

Colourful accountancy wins award

A striking accountant’s office has been awarded top honours in the Resene Total Colour Awards announced in Auckland last night dismissing the myth that accountancy offices are dull and boring.

Resene has a long history of colour in New Zealand with colours like Resene Spanish White and Resene Pearl Lusta created over three decades ago still continuing to be top choices for decorators today. In 1969 Resene set up a new system of colour, the British Standard Specification colour range which provided a range of strong colours at a time when New Zealanders were used to pastel colours. And more recently, in keeping with Resene’s focus on sustainable innovations, Resene has developed its own range of non VOC (volatile organic compound) tinters to enable all Resene decorative paints to be tinted without unwanted VOCs. With thousands of Resene colours available, there’s no point having all these colours if they aren’t being used, which led to the creation of the Resene Total Colour Awards, launched this year, to celebrate and encourage creative use of colour.

Over 140 entries were received. Awards were given in nine categories: Residential Exterior, Residential Interior, Display, Product, Sustainable System, Rising Star, Commercial Exterior, Commercial Interior, Lifetime Achievement, with the Colour Master - Nightingale Award for the best overall colour use.

Resene Total Colour Master – Nightingale Award

The Resene Total Colour Master - Nightingale Award, named after the Nightingale family who founded and still run Resene today, recognises excellence in colour and paint use, and was awarded for the first time to Paul Leuschke of Leuschke Kahn Architects Ltd for Grant Thornton Auckland.

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Taking the cue from the dark stained timber floor ‘the art wall’ extending 30 metres and encompassing two floors and the stairwell is a rich mix of browns, yellows, oranges and reds. ‘The art wall’ with its numeral graphics is both surprising and memorable. The open plan staff areas are more subdued in colour use and have a white/grey theme with a hit of Resene Party Animal to break the monotony. The vividness of the project is particularly appealing. it was not a token application of colour; the colour was a large element of a sophisticated well integrated fit-out.

The project shows an incredibly clever use of paint and is very surprising for an accountant’s office. The colour palette creates a great mood with the treatment of the colours from the entry to the offices. A project where decorating becomes an artform.

Resene Total Colour Residential Exterior Award

Sam Kebbell, KebbellDaish Architects of Wellington was announced the Resene Total Colour Residential Exterior winner for Adsett House.

This project has been a dialogue between artist and architect: art and architecture; figure and ground; foreground and background. This is achieved partly through spatial and formal tactics that make the distinction between art and architecture ambiguous. Colour forms a critical role. Dark battens recede into the light wall, the light stripe between structural columns merges with the wall behind, and shadows of the structural columns to the front of the house are confused with dark lines on the same wall. Colour is not applied to this house, it is integral.This project is different and innovative, and nicely balanced, bringing elements of excitement, stimulation and surprise. Excitement is created by its neutrality and the clever use of the combination of neutrals and delightful pink. The theme of the stripes and vertical elements is intriguing, you want to see more.

A Resene Total Colour Residential Exterior Maestro Award recognising excellence of colour use was awarded to Darryl Church, Darryl Church Architecture Ltd of Rotorua for the Buchanan Residence Alterations.

The Buchanan Residence integrates old with new with ease. A clever patchwork of colours you would see in nature near the entry subtly leads you inside while also being reflective of the surrounding landscape. The external colour scheme was required to deliver on many levels. It needed to be respectful of the surrounding lake setting and landscape when viewed from the lake. Up close, it was to offer a rich diversity of colour and texture and, unlike most properties, it also needed to be presentable when viewed from above as the driveway descends on the house above the roof-line. The client’s dislike of blue led to green and brown cues taken from the surrounding lake-scape for the feature cladding near the entry.

Special Judges Mention for Bold Colour Use

Rachel Ovens’ enthusiastic use of paint on curtains in her Dunedin Dining Room Revamp project was rewarded with a special judges' mention for bold colour use. Combining Resene Daredevil walls and taking paint off the wall and using Resene Arapawa to upcycle a reversed thermal drape made this a brave dining room revamp that most wouldn’t attempt. An interesting use of paint, innovative, exciting, demonstrating what can be achieved if you leave your decorating inhibitions at the door.

Resene Total Colour Residential Interior Award

Tushka Glintmeyer, Space Architecture Studio won the Resene Total Colour Residential Interior Award for the Kawau residence in Kapiti.

The layout and light colour scheme encourage a relaxed lifestyle while exploiting an excellent quality of natural light and views to the Kapiti Island. The home is a relaxed family home and it adheres to wholesome principles – efficient orientation and planning, use of natural light and ventilation, and appropriate material and colour selection. The colour palette used in this project is highly competent with a good use and balance of colour, not everything has to be surprising. As a nation we use a lot of neutrals in our houses as they are easy to live with, and this project demonstrates how neutrals can be combined successfully with elements of interest and strength.

The Resene Total Colour Residential Interior Maestro Award was won by Hayley Whitehead, N & Co Architecture for the Strathmore Residence project in Wellington.

Renovations for this kitchen came straight from the influences of Piet Mondrian’s renowned block-colour artworks. In keeping with the Art Deco style of the original house, this kitchen has blended effortlessly with the existing detailing and client’s vibrant Deco furnishings. The simple linear shapes and staggered block-colour arrangements were the perfect canvas for painting bold and stylish Resene colours. In collaboration with the client, the final colours and their arrangement were key decisions aided by 3D CAD images and Resene colour swatches and testpots. A unique, clever palette of colours, mixed and matched with care for an original styled effect.

Resene Total Colour Product Colour Award

Bucking the trend towards bright and bold plastic toys, the Resene Total Colour Product Award winner, Tim Nicol of Wooden Toys of Kapiti has created rugged wooden toys finished in a range of brightly coloured Resene paints.

Colour market research has revealed that the use of varied colour schemes is important. Although adults appreciate the look and feel of polished wood, children much prefer brightly coloured items – the brighter, the better. Admiration is given to the love and attention that has gone into this product, it makes you smile. The product has a charming naivety and sense of nostalgia.

Resene Total Colour Rising Star Student Award

Renee Holtom of Auckland won the Resene Total Colour Rising Star Award with the Aotearoa Housing project, a student design proposal for an affordable housing option.

It is aimed towards providing a higher quality and standard of living for Maori. It is envisaged that this will be built in transportable units that can be built and then transported or shipped to the site. This design is a three bedroom residence comprising of two separate pavilions that are connected by a boardwalk style decking. This allows the user to separate living and bedroom areas. Three colour schemes are proposed that will be available to give people choice and the opportunity to personalise their home. The vibrant use of colour gives the users a clean, fresh environment.

Resene Total Colour Commercial Exterior Award

A collaboration between Paul Kerr-Hislop of Art + Architecture and Gus Watt of Watt Architects were awarded the Resene Total Colour Commercial Exterior Award for striking colour use on the Quattro Maison Apartments in Wellington

A tight budget stripped the original scheme of roof gardens, trees and vines but this was countered by an adventurous colour scheme which successfully distinguishes the building and assists in emphasising the ‘four buildings’. Colour is also celebrated with the use of blue LED lights in the entrance and corridors and lime green lift surround that create an ethereal glow to the interior in the twilight and at night. It’s a bold use of colour on a highly visible site, which renders a building which might otherwise be rather ordinary, memorable, and lifts a rather drab streetscape. The balanced colour intensities define the best line of the rectangular forms while personalising and identifying the nature of the structure. The bold exterior colour scheme followed through to the interior in colour has provided the perfect solution with a tight budget.

The clever positioning of the palette of neutral hues on the Cashmere Primary School Epicentre won Tania Gorton Design a Resene Total Colour Commercial Exterior Maestro Award.

The design lent itself to creating enhanced visual appeal, especially on the West and South sides. A checkerboard effect with negative detailing was created, allowing the front of the building to be determined. This was repeated on the West side in a simpler version. To add flow the checkerboard effect was repeated inside the building providing continuity. The colour enhances the architecture; a superb application of a predominately neutral palette.

The Bunkhouse Goat Island by Cheshire Architects combines wood stains with bold hues winning a Resene Total Colour Commercial Exterior Maestro Award.

Cheap Pinus Radiata boards – stained with Resene Woodsman Natural are exposed to both the interior and exterior. The soft-staining effect will promote a graceful period of slow, controlled aging as the building settles into its site. Behind the cavity, the Shadowclad ply-lining is stained a quiet Resene Woodsman Smokey Ash to tie it carefully to the block base. This quiet, soft base-palette is counter pointed by vivid colour that awakens the world within the timber box. While on one level it may be odd to follow an avian-inspired scheme in the grounds of a marine reserve, on another it seems wholly appropriate to offer warm and vivid hues to those who regularly dwell in deep blue. This project is tasteful, very cleverly put together; lively without being obvious.

Resene Total Colour Commercial Interior Award
The Resene Total Colour Commercial Interior Award was won by Paul Leuschke of Leuschke Group Architects who also took out top overall honours with the Resene Total Colour Master – Nightingale Award.

Xsite Architects were awarded a Resene Total Colour Commercial Interior Maestro Award for the Hynds Group Headquarters renovation.

Natural materials such as clear finished and stained rough sawn ply enable the materials to be detailed with little fuss. They create a contrast to the glass reinforced concrete elements and resonate with the Hynds Group business philosophy of honest, straightforward, no-nonsense “what you see is what you get” service and solutions. The project demonstrates a very accomplished application of colour with the use of wood creating a nice mood. They used colour to telling effect.

The second Resene Total Colour Commercial Interior Maestro Award was awarded to John Mills Architects Ltd for the Southern Cross garden bar and restaurant.

This work involved the re-configuration of an existing function room and bar space. The space was re-organised to better relate to the main bar and garden spaces, the fit-out of which, converses with the remainder of the bar finished two years prior. Materials, construction details, and colours reminisce on the classic New Zealand caravan, complete with fold out tables, two toned and piped squabs, stripy materials, and a back lit fold out awning to cover the bar when not in use. Funky, eclectic and conceptual. The random nature of the colour scheme actually works, and works especially well with an intriguing application of other materials.

Resene Total Colour Sustainable System Award

With a focus on sustainable systems, including Environmental Choice approved paints, Stephenson & Turner took out the Resene Total Colour Sustainable System Award for the MAF Multipurpose Building, Wallaceville, Wellington.

The five star Green Star MAF multipurpose building is a place of reception, gathering and collaboration for the National Centre for Biosecurity and Infectious Disease at Wallaceville and the larger scientific community. The exterior of the box like forms is dark with a textured band sawn vertical cladding reflecting its protective role and the surrounding totara trees. On the two sides of the main block where there are a greater extent of windows a lighter coloured plywood cladding is used to emphasise this openness. The interior is light to accentuate the feeling of space with careful use of glazing filling the building with daylight. This colour scheme is timeless, well thought out, coherent and cohesive. The brief called for a combination of paint and other materials and the two have been melded together very sympathetically. Instead of taking the same material and applying the same colour, as so many people do, the different architectural aspects of the two sides of the building have been translated with colour.

Resene Total Colour Landscape Award
The interplay between the warm alluring waters of the Polynesian Spa and the careful paint colour selection, won Chris Stone of Rotorua the Resene Total Colour Landscape Award.

The buildings and landscape of the Polynesian Spa in Rotorua rest on an active thermal site providing one of the harshest environments possible for building materials and vegetation. Gas membranes are situated below most construction and under the Lake Spa bush gardens. Paint colours are sympathetic and appropriately thermal in nature. The colour scheme makes the water feel soft, calling you into its depths.

Resene Total Colour Lifetime Achievement Award

The Resene Total Colour Lifetime Achievement Award recognising a person in the architecture and design industry who has shown dedication to innovative and excellent colour use in their work, was awarded to Paris Magdalinos, formerly of Napier.

Paris Magdalinos arrived in New Zealand as a young refugee and left school when he was 14. Through his own drive and talent, he became one of New Zealand’s leading architects, colourful and flamboyant in both his personality and his architecture, running a Napier-based practice undertaking significant projects all over this country and abroad. Epitomised by strong images, forms, colours and shapes – his practice fervently believes in John Ruskin’s words that “all architecture proposes an effect on the human mind, not merely a service to the human frame”. Using colour both to articulate forms and inject an essential humanity and personality to the architecture the use of the colour became a key signature. At times the resulting colour schemes created interesting challenges for the local Resene ColorShops and painting contractors – but through Paris’ vision, the attention to hue, chromacity and value, created something memorable. His vision continues to live on in the architectural firm he founded.

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