2018 Auckland Architecture Awards

New apartments and city intensification projects winners in
2018 Auckland Architecture Awards.

Forty-six buildings from across Auckland and Northland have received Auckland Architecture Awards at an event held at MOTAT Aviation Hall.

Download low-res gallery of award winners
Download hi-res gallery of award winners

The 2018 Auckland Architecture Awards are part of the peer-reviewed New Zealand Architecture Awards programme run by the New Zealand Institute of Architects (NZIA) and sponsored by Resene. The programme sets the benchmark for the country’s buildings and recognises the contribution of architects to their towns and communities.

Rick Pearson, this year’s awards jury convenor, said the number of entries and high quality of shortlisted works made the judging process challenging.

Over the course of a busy week, Pearson and his fellow jurors – architects Jeff Wells, Julian Mitchell and Katherine Dean, as well as lay juror Fleur Palmer – visited 54 shortlisted projects. 107 projects were entered this year.

“The standard of architecture we encountered was very high,” Pearson said. “It was especially encouraging to be able to confer awards to multi-unit housing projects, which has been a skinny awards category in previous years, despite the pressing nature of Auckland’s ongoing housing shortage.”

The jury conferred six awards in the multi-unit housing category, to Housing New Zealand homes in Mt Albert, multi-level townhouses in Hobsonville Point and apartments in new Grey Lynn and Ponsonby.

“We were also impressed with the planning of Vinegar Lane in Ponsonby,” Pearson said. “It sets a good precedent for other areas looking to achieve urban density and diversity without forgoing building quality.”

“Infrastructural projects, such as the Manukau Bus Station, where culture and function are integrated so that the architecture is meaningful as well as cleverly planned, impressed us as well.”

Apartments and infrastructure

Among the Housing – Multi-unit winners is Jennings Jersey, a Housing New Zealand project in Mount Albert designed by Monk McKenzie Architects. Density has been achieved in a manner that complements the surrounding neighbourhood in a scheme that is “efficient, economical and textured”.

Stevens Lawson Architects, the architects of Sunderland 6, a series of housing types at Hobsonville Point, were commended for relating the distinctive building units to their sites.

“All three housing types have been well detailed, and are consistent, clear and nicely proportioned,” the jury said.

A challenging location abutting a motorway did not preclude a quality outcome for The Foundries townhouse complex by Jasmax and Hunter Hindmarsh, described by the jury as a “handsome solution to urban residential intensification on a mixed-use site”.

In Grey Lynn, The Barrington, designed by Paul Brown Architects, incorporates small tenancies as well as live-work options. They jury said that “the two street frontages create dynamically different conditions while maintaining the texture and grit of the neighbourhood”.

In nearby Ponsonby, at the Vinegar Lane precinct, the Aria Apartments by TOA Architects “raise the design bar high by meeting the challenge for entry-level housing within a high-density urban development,” the jury said.

Vinegar Lane also received an award for Planning and Urban Design. The project, masterplanned by Isthmus for Progressive Enterprises, impressed the jury with its “back to the future concept of small, defined development lots, with a focus on architectural quality throughout”.

The Waterview Connection also received a Planning and Urban Design Award. The Warren and Mahoney project, a response to growing pressure on the city’s infrastructure, was commended for its “sheer grandeur”. One element of the project is Te Whitinga, the Hendon footbridge, which “successfully and dramatically stitches back together a community that had found itself on either side of the motorway”.
Manukau Bus Station was the sole Public Architecture Award winner this year.
“From the metaphor of a kite has been created a lovely, light floating structure,” the jury said. The project was designed in accord with Auckland Council’s Te Aranga Māori Design Principles by Beca Architects and Cox Davies in association.
Commercial buildings and interior architecture awards
Half a dozen commercial buildings that go beyond the provision of satisfying working conditions to make a wider contribution to their neighbourhoods won awards.
The EMA Business Hub & Carpark on Khyber Pass is a “strong response to one of the toughest streets in the country”. Reworked by Avery Team Architects, the Khyber Pass building is made from “bold and pragmatic materials”, and its “generous outdoor spaces” ensure a good connection with the surrounding environment.
In designing Parnell’s Faraday Street Precinct, Fearon Hay Architects showed a “gentle touch and deep respect” for an old brick warehouse. “It has radically transformed this area and created a dynamic series of spaces to in which to work, shop and eat,” the jury said.
A building that is “all about cars” at 119 Great North Road won both a Commercial Architecture Award and an Interior Architecture Award. The luxury car showroom and office building, designed by Warren and Mahoney, has a “flawlessly organised integration of activities and services”, the jury said.
“The exposed steel and concrete beams and concrete trusses evoke the modern industrial genesis of automobiles, and sleek surfaces complement the cars’ sculptural forms.”
GridAKL Innovation 5A (12 Madden) and Mason Bros is another Interior Architecture Award winner. The co-working facility, designed for ATEED by Jasmax, is a “vibrant working environment that promotes inter-business interactions”, the jury said.
After visiting RCG Limited’s workplace for Māori Television the jury noted it is “clearly much loved” by its occupants. “The te aho tapu (sacred first thread) approach is evident in the use of carefully crafted materials, commissioned artwork and the sophisticated organisation of the interiors.”
The Boys – a “polished transformation of a once-grimy inner-city warehouse” into spaces suitable for showrooms or apartments – was undertaken by Brave Architects. The jury said the practice has “cleverly integrated old with new so that a memory of the building’s previous life was retained”.
Education
Three new school buildings have received Auckland Architecture Awards.
In the design of the King’s School Centennial Building, Warren and Mahoney Architects has “clearly articulated the desire for a learning environment that would create a positive pedagogical impact”, the jury said.
At Unitec, The Hub – Te Puna by ASC Architects and Design Group Stapleton Elliot is a “polished and assured” building and an “excellent conversion of what was once a windswept courtyard into a comfortable gathering space,” the jury said.
Auckland firm Architectus received two awards for work at the University of Auckland. The first was Science Centre Building 302. The jury said the building “successfully achieves an animated series of spaces that include advanced science labs, specialist teaching facilities and social gathering areas to establish a strong gateway and connection to the rest of the University.”
Heritage
Architectus, working in association with Salmond Reed Architects, received a Heritage Award for the University’s Alfred Nathan House. The historic building has been restored to its original configuration, seismically upgraded and carefully added to at the rear.
The jury said the design “accentuates the richness of the original features of a building that dates back to 1882”.
Ellen Melville Centre and Freyberg Place, a central city heritage and landscape project undertaken by Stevens Lawson Architects and Isthmus Group, was described by the jury as “excellent in the way it generously opens the building up to the community”.
Herbst Architects and Salmond Reed, working in association, received a Heritage Award for Mission Bay Pavilion, a project that involved the restoration and strengthening of the 1858 Mission Building and building a new structure to house a restaurant. The jury described the refurbishment as “sensitive” and praised the creation of an “elegant light-filled space”.
Hospitality
Herbst Architects also received a Hospitality Award for the lightweight and transparent building designed for the historically and archaeologically sensitive site next to the Mission Building.
“It touches the ground only gently, and acts as a visual counterpoint to the weight of the adjacent Mission building,” the jury said.
Cheshire Architects’ compact clubhouse for Tara Iti Golf Course in Northland was one of just two projects to receive awards in the Hospitality category.
“Refreshingly restrained and intimate, the clubhouse nestles into the landscape, aided by a limited palette of immaculately detailed materials,” the jury said.
New houses
“We gave 14 awards for new housing,” Pearson said. “The jury recognised projects which created strong connections to coastal sites, and others in more suburban settings, often with strict heritage constraints, where appropriate and inventive solutions have been executed.”
Fe3O4 by Crosson Architects, a house clad in weathered steel and sited near a Northland beach, is a “richly layered and obsessively detailed building”, the jury said.
Kawau Island Bach, another Crosson Architects’ project, was described as “the quintessential bach with a boatshed aesthetic”.
Near Piha, Kawakawa House, designed by Herbst Architects, is an “elevated living platform, designed around an internal courtyard that is totally appropriate for its predominantly pōhutukawa forest setting”.
Herbst Architects received another housing award for Lantern House on Waiheke Island. The jury said the home’s “atmospheric quality enhances the painterly way in which we perceive the magnificent views”.
Also situated on Waiheke Island, Vaughn McQuarrie Architects’ Anzac Bay House “exhibits a lyrical use of materials and good range of textures within a clearly articulated barn-like form”, the jury said.
At Whare Koa, a house designed by Strachan Group Architects to enjoy views of Opahi Bay, the jury also found “ingenious technical solutions that blur the interior and exterior space throughout the house”.
“A house full of surprises” is how the jury described another Strachan Group Architects housing award winner, Castor Bay House, which employs adjustable exterior screens to provide privacy, aid ventilation and reveal views.
Shipshape, a St Mary’s Bay house designed by Robin O’Donnell Architects, has a “façade that reflects the past, while the design takes advantage of the views”.
Mount Eden House, designed by Guy Tarrant Architects, “speaks of the past and of the future, is engaging, well proportioned, light-filled and elegant”, the jury said, and in Devonport, Reserve House by Geoff Richards Architects “is a quiet and understated modern dwelling”.
The jury said Dorrington Atcheson Architects “engaging” Allum St, Kohimarama, house achieves “calm-yet-rich spatial qualities” thanks to a “concrete ribbon wall, chamfered spaces, a surprising ‘yellow box’ containing the kitchen and a tonally rich palette of materials”.
The house designed by Stevens Lawson Architects for Rawene Street, Westmere is distinguished by a “sublime series of relaxed and generous spaces organised around a spine wall”, the jury said.
Notable features of Space Invader, designed by Paterson Architecture Collective and Glamuzina Architects, are interior courtyards, a distinct relationship to the street and “integration into a beautiful landscape despite the challenges of a sloped site”.
The material highlights of the Volcano House, designed by Rowe Baetens Architecture, include basalt from Mt Horrible and tōtara retrieved from rivers in Northland. The house is “an elegant pavilion perfectly suited to the clients,” the jury said.
Housing Alterations and Additions
Rowe Baetens Architecture also received an award in the Housing – Alterations and Additions category for Northland Lake House. The jury said “the extensive use of stone is an appropriate showcase for the client’s professional expertise”.
Alignworks’ clever Courtyard Loft Conversion of a former New Zealand Post warehouse in Epsom has produced a home and studio for the architecture firm’s owners that is a “generous light-filled living space and sunny private live-work environment,” the jury said.
The Stables in Ponsonby, a small brick building that was originally a horse stable from the early days of the suburb, has received a conversion by McKinney + Windeatt Architects that is “elegant, restrained and modest in scale”.
Small Project Architecture
“Project stature does not always reflect the level of thinking or the inventiveness of solutions,” said Pearson.
Winners in the Small Projects category include the “deliciously tactile’ Habitat Markers designed by Isthmus Group to encourage engagement with nature on a new coastal walkway, and the new Objectspace Gallery by RTA Studio.
The new gallery, Pearson said, “has been successful in enhancing the commercial viability of the gallery’s operation while providing a range of scale in the flexible exhibition areas.”
The Camp, two “sublime, rich and intense” pavilions designed by Fearon Hay Architects for a Tāwharanui Peninsula site, also received a Small Project Award, as did Motu Kaikōura Lodge bySGA Ltd – Strachan Group Architects .
This project “represents a generous investment in supporting community engagement and training women architects in construction processes in partnership with the Architecture and Women NZ organisation,” the jury said.
Enduring Architecture Awards
Enduring Architecture Awards are given to projects that are of more than 25 years of age and have withstood the tests of time. Two such awards were given to two very different 1970s houses.
The Campbell Courtyard House (1972), designed by Stanish and Withers, is an intimately scaled Freemans Bay townhouse that has continued relevance as Auckland seeks contemporary urban intensification.
The Green House (1977), designed by the late Claude Megson for a West Auckland site, is “like stepping into a three-dimensional Mondrian painting”, the jury said. “The architecture dramatises the vertical links between each space and the way the interior connects to the steep, bush-clad site.”
All Auckland Architecture Award winning projects are eligible for shortlisting in the New Zealand Architecture Awards. Those awards will be announced in November.

Complete list of winners:


Commercial Architecture
119 Great North Road – Warren and Mahoney Architects
EMA Business Hub & Carpark – Avery Team Architects
Faraday Street Precinct ¬– Fearon Hay Architects

Education
King's School Centennial Building – Warren and Mahoney Architects
Unitec The Hub – Te Puna – ASC Architects and Designgroup Stapleton Elliott
The University of Auckland Science Centre Building 302 – Architectus

Enduring Architecture
Campbell Courtyard House (1972) – Stanish and Withers
The Green House (1977) – Claude Megson Architect

Heritage
Alfred Nathan House – Architectus and Salmond Reed Architects in association
Ellen Melville Centre and Freyberg Place – Isthmus Group and Stevens Lawson Architects in association
Mission Bay Pavilion – Herbst Architects and Salmond Reed Architects in association

Interior Architecture
119 Great North Road – Warren and Mahoney
GridAKL Innovation 5A (12 Madden) and Mason Bros – Jasmax
Māori Television – RCG Limited
The Boys – Brave Architects

Hospitality
Mission Bay Pavilion – Herbst Architects
Tara Iti Clubhouse – Cheshire Architects and Herringbone Interiors (USA) in association

Housing
39 Allum St – Dorrington Atcheson Architects
Anzac Bay House – Vaughn McQuarrie
Castor Bay House – SGA Ltd – Strachan Group Architects
Fe3O4 – Crosson Architects
Kawakawa House – Herbst Architects
Kawau Island Bach – Crosson Architects
Lantern House Waiheke – Herbst Architects
Mount Eden House – Guy Tarrant Architects
Rawene House – Stevens Lawson Architects
Reserve House – Geoff Richards Architects
Shipshape – Robin O'Donnell Architects
Space Invader – PAC – Paterson Architecture Collective and Glamuzina Architects in association
Volcano House – Rowe Baetens Architecture
Whare Koa – SGA Ltd - Strachan Group Architects

Housing multi-unit
Aria Apartments – TOA Architects
Jennings Jersey – Monk MacKenzie
Sunderland 6 – Stevens Lawson Architects
The Barrington – Paul Brown Architects
The Foundries – Jasmax and Hunter Hindmarsh in association

Housing Alterations and Additions
Courtyard Loft Conversion – Alignworks
Northland Lake House – Rowe Baetens Architecture
The Stables – McKinney + Windeatt Architects

Planning and Urban Design
The Waterview Connection – Warren and Mahoney Architects
Vinegar Lane – Isthmus Group

Public Architecture
Manukau Bus Station – Beca Architects and Cox Davies in association

Small Project Architecture
Habitat Markers – Isthmus Group
Motu Kaikōura Lodge – SGA Ltd – Strachan Group Architects
Objectspace Gallery – RTA Studio
The Camp – Fearon Hay Architects

© Scoop Media