The winners of the New Zealand Institute of Architects Wellington Architecture Awards were announced on 3 May. The event was held at the New Zealand Parliament Banquet Hall where 24 projects were named as winners and honoured along with other shortlisted projects. 

Wellington architect Sally Ogle led a jury of four including Julie Stout, Maurice Pipson, architecture graduate Pip Barr and Peter McGuinness of construction company L.T. McGuinness. The jury toured all 40 shortlisted buildings in the region before selecting winners in each category. 

Ogle said, “The Award-winning buildings set a very high standard for architecture in the region. Many are multi-layered projects which show an architect and client considering ways that buildings can benefit the context in which they are located.”

“The high standard of educational and commercial work was especially notable, as were the ways in which architects have considered wider urban connections, and how new centres of learning and large precincts can plug into the city,” she continues.

See a full list of winners with jury citations below.

Housing Awards

Jury conveyer Sally Ogle said, ”The projects we visited included housing in many forms, scales and settings – from highly urbanised to bush and beach contexts, and compact housing to multi-unit papakāinga. In each case, the architecture has been finely tuned to the environment and to the occupants.”  

Korokoro Bush House by Parsonson Architects

Parsonson Architects received two housing awards this year. Korokoro Bush House, the jury said, is “generous in all the right places, snug where it matters, and exquisitely fine-tuned to the environment.”

Te Horo Bach by Parsonson Architects

Te Horo Bach is “a near-perfect retreat from the city” the jury noted, “with colours and materials that beautifully connect it with the landscape.”

Greytown Main House by Foster + Melville Architects

Three houses from north of Wellington city received awards, including Greytown Main House. The jury said, “[This] beautifully detailed house sits comfortably on its site and within its context thanks to the use of forms that reference rural buildings.”

Hillside House by Vorstermans Architects

Wellington architects are often presented with difficult site conditions and weather considerations.

The architects of the Hillside House responded to these challenges, including a steep, small, south-facing section and a road hard up against the northern boundary, artfully. 

Despite the battles, the jury commented, “The architects have delivered a charming, 135 square metre family home that is cleverly planned and thoughtfully detailed ­– an excellent example of affordable housing done well.” 

Miramar House by Andrew Sexton Architects

The jury said of this design that it “reveals an exceptional sensitivity to the lifestyles of the occupants and the vagaries of Wellington’s environment.”

They continued that it is “so well attuned to its place that it seems as if it might have occupied it for many years.”

Waikanae House by First Light Studio

This house, with its three gabled forms, distinguishes the spaces that allow a mother and daughter, along with a caregiver, to live independent but connected lives.

The jury was impressed with the way the living spaces have made the most of sun and orientation to views, ideal for people who, through necessity, spend a lot of time inside. 

Spitaki House by Lovell and O’Connell Architects

Though this house might have a relatively small footprint, the jury said it is “the perfect environment for the client’s rich brew of art and musical instruments.”

Wairarapa House by Custance Associates

This house was designed for an elevated site above the Ruamahanga River. The jury remarked that it is an “appropriate response to the rural context.”

The interior features “discrete and understated” spaces. “It is a house for all seasons that has been built to last many lifetimes.”

Housing Alterations and Additions Awards

Holloway Road Alterations and Additions by Lovell and O’Connell Architects

Lovell and O’Connell Architects was a double winner this year and of this project, the jury said, “Pared-back elegance is an apt description for this early 1900s house, which is now more than ready to take on the twenty-first century.”

They managed to put a contemporary spin on some of the defining characteristics of the villa.

‘Shed’ and a.k.a Office by a.k.a Architects

This practice took on the challenge of adding to and altering an existing home for their own offices.

“Every square inch of space available contributes to the greater good”, said the jury. They were intrigued by this “two-part project that balances lavishness with modesty, darkness and light, and verticality and horizontality in almost equal measure.”

Housing Multi-Unit Award

Te Aro Pā Trust Papakāinga Housing by Walker Architecture and Design

The jury described this project as, “an interesting example of how affordable homes can be delivered for a small community.”

Interior Architecture Awards

Creature Design Fitout by Herriot Melhuish O’Neill Architects (HMOA)

The jury said this “very well done fit-out for a Wellington advertising agency manages sleekness without excessive expense.”

Singleton Dental by Andrew Sexton Architecture

This interior design was chosen because, as the jury commented, the use of “beautiful materials, well detailed throughout” has given a dental clinic a “warm and inviting feel that belies its medical utility.” 

Transpower by Jasmax

Transpower is a tenant of a Commercial Architecture Award winner, 22 Boulcott Street.

The interior design has helped the organisation transfer from a “hierarchical workplace into an open-plan arrangement of flexible seating,” the jury said.

Enduring Architecture Award 

Park Mews (1973) by Roger Walker

This award is given to projects that are more than 25 years old and have withstood the test of time. The jury said that Park Mews certainly fits this criteria. 

“Few buildings say ‘Wellington’ like Roger Walker’s Park Mews,” said the awards jury. “The local landmark, with its signature turrets and portholes, is emblematic of a period of New Zealand architecture that shunned modernist norms in favour of a more radical approach.”

Education Awards 

Our Lady of Kāpiti School by Studio of Pacific Architecture

This new school that has “jumped the tracks to flat land,” the jury said, “is a shining example of how architecture and architects can channel the energy of staff and students into an environment that encourages learning every day.”

Te Auaha by Foster + Melville Architects

The second win for Foster + Melville, this
educational centre offers a complex range of programmes from hairdressing to make-up to creative writing and film. The architects were inspired to create “fun ‘factory-of-education’ feel” with “admirable openness and activity,” the jury said.

Victoria Business School: Rutherford House Redevelopment by Athfield Architects

Situated on the University’s Pipitea campus, the jury was impressed by the way the lower two levels of this design had extended the urban landscape from the Government precinct through to the Railway Station and harbour. The jury continued on to say that this project provides “a fertile interface between town, gown and Crown.”

Te Toki a Rata Building, Victoria University of Wellington by Warren and Mahoney Architects

On the University’s Kelburn campus this science building provides a “legible new gateway.” The jury said, “The building unites this part of the university and forms a dark, reflective backdrop to the array of existing buildings on the opposite side of the courtyard.”

Commercial Architecture Awards

22 Boulcott Street by architecture+

For this project, a six-storey atrium was cut into an existing building’s floor plates. According to the jury, the move “strengthens the connections between people and their place of work, and makes it difficult to see where the base building stops and the fit-out project begins.”

Arise Centre by bbc architects

The coloured glass cladding and simple building form is an uplifting backdrop for a religious congregation to gather and “make some noise,” the jury said.

The building’s interior has been “orchestrated so that performance and media convey the church’s message.”

Cuba Dixon Redevelopment by Athfield Architects

This long-term project for developer Willis Bond incorporates the seismic strengthening of a heritage façade at the bottom of Cuba Mall.

“By focusing on the connections to adjoining sites, and by creating new laneways to activate and funnel people through to those typically hidden back of house areas, the architects have laid the foundation for a lively and energised new precinct,” the jury sais.

Public Architecture Awards

He Tohu Document Room by Studio of Pacific Architecture Limited

This room was designed around a theme of ‘He Whakapapa kōrero, he whenua kura: Talking about our past, to create a better future’ and houses important constitutional documents.  

The jury commented that the “immaculately resolved home for New Zealand’s most significant documents has an intimate and personal scale that lends gravitas to the experience and magnifies the emotional response of the visitor to the taonga exhibited within.”

Riddiford Pavilion by Herriot Melhuish O’Neill Architects (HMOA)

Designed for a Lower Hutt site, this pavilion comprises two fully accessible public toilets and a kiosk. The building lends  “delight and dignity to the experience of undertaking an essential activity,” the jury said.

All winners of the 2018 Wellington Architecture Awards are eligible for shortlisting in the New Zealand Architecture Awards, which will be decided later in the year, and announced in November.