Winning two awards in the interior architecture and heritage categories was Wintec House in Hamilton, a restoration of an historic building by Chow: Hill Architects. Ltd. The awards jury led by architect Adam Mercer commented, “a sense of the building’s history is retained at the same time as the building enjoys a new lease of life”.

Also a double winner was Papamoa College by ASC Architects, collecting awards in both the public architecture and sustainable architecture categories. Judges described the building as “a community of buildings that fully support a contemporary approach to learning”.

Commercial buildings in Hamilton figured strongly in the awards. Among the two category winners were two medical projects - Braemar Hospital by Chow:Hill Architects and the Cancer Society’s Lions Lodge. The transformation of the old Claudelands Showgrounds into the new Claudelands Events Centre by Chow:Hill Architects and Populous was another Hamilton award winner, as was DLA Architects’ building for Ingham Honda.

Chibnall Buckell Marovic Team Architects took home an award for the Don Rowlands Centre, a facility built for the 2010 World Rowing Championships at Lake Karapiro, and Opus Architecture scooped an award for the Te Kauwhata Library.

Residential architecture was another stand-out category at this year’s awards. Winners included the Matarangi house by Sumich Chaplin Architects and a Cooks Beach house designed by Crosson Clarke Carnachan Architects. Also on the Coromandel peninsula were award winners Studio 19 Bach at Onemana, an elegant timber back designed by Unitec architecture students under the leadership of Strachan Group Architects and Cook, Sargisson & Pirie, and a little bach at Whiritoa by Matter.

Warren and Mahoney’s house at Pahoia Point, Tauranga, a Mount Maunganui house by Architecture Bureau, and further down the coast, a Papamoa house designed by Architecture Page Henderson, were also winners in the residential category. A pair of Hamilton houses designed in the 1950s by Peter Middleton and the practice of Gilman Garry Clapp and Sayers, were also recognised by judges.

A full list of the 2011 Waikato Bay of Plenty Architecture Award winners is below, along with judges’ citations.

Commercial Architecture - Braemar Hospital
NZIA Practice: Chow:Hill Architects Ltd
Careful consideration has been given to the acoustic and geotechnical performance of this building sited by a busy intersection. Read full citation.

Commercial Architecture - Cancer Society’s Lions Lodge
NZIA Practice: Chow:Hill Architects Ltd
Perched on a hill between the lake and the city, the new lodge has all but replaced the old hospital. Read full citation.

Public Architecture - Claudelands Events Centre
NZIA Practice: Chow:Hill Architects Ltd and Populous (Brisbane)
The Claudelands Showgrounds has been transformed into a high-quality modern events centre with the addition of this versatile building. Read full citation.

Residential Architecture/Houses - Cooks Beach House
NZIA Practice: Crosson Clarke Carnachan Architects (Auckland) Ltd
This house sited above Cooks Bluff takes its shape from the constellation Scorpius, a reference to James Cook’s observation of the transit of Mercury from the bay below in 1769. Read full citation.

Public Architecture - Don Rowlands Centre
NZIA Practice: Chibnall Buckell Marovic Team Architects Ltd
A multipurpose facility completed for the 2010 World Rowing Championships at Lake Karapiro, the Don Rowlands Centre will be a valuable community asset for years to come. Read full citation.

Commercial Architecture - Ingham Honda
NZIA Practice: DLA Architects Limited
The client and the Architect have combined well to create a precinct for car sales and servicing. Read full citation.

Enduring Architecture - Lomas House
NZIA Practice: Peter Middleton Architect
In 1954, Heather Lomas worked with Peter Middleton on the design of her family home in Hamilton, and the house is as elegant today as it was when it was built. Read full citation.

Residential Architecture/Houses - Lot 9 Coast
NZIA Practice: Architecture Page Henderson Ltd
This house is a show home for a coastal development that, unusually, is distinguished by its promotion of architect-led design. Read full citation.

Residential Architecture/Houses - Matarangi House
NZIA Practice: Sumich Chaplin Architects
An arcing approach leads to this understated delight located in a grove of mature pines, screened from the road and fronting onto a generous beach reserve.

Residential Architecture/Houses - Pahoia House
NZIA Practice: Warren and Mahoney Architects Ltd
Located on a promontory fringed with pohutukawa, and with cliffs to either side, this generous modern home is composed of two long, rectangular forms, one laid like a bridge across the other. Read full citation.

Public Architecture & Sustainable Architecture - Papamoa College
NZIA Practice: ASC Architects
Three long, rectangular two-storied buildings come together to form this large modern school. All structure and materials are expressed openly. Read full citation.

Sustainability is at best an open book of ideas, and this building has nothing to hide. Every material is expressed and every function is made clear – the project challenges others to do better. Read full citation.

Residential Architecture/Houses - Screened by Pohutukawa
NZIA Practice: Architecture Bureau Ltd
It is wonderful to see an iconic bach sitting uncrowded by the roadside complete with pohutukawa and a modest new building sited respectfully at the rear. Read full citation.

Small Project Architecture - Studio 19 Bach
NZIA Practice: SGA Ltd - Strachan Group Architects and Cook, Sargisson & Pirie in association with Unitec
Adventurous clients have benefitted from a programme set up to teach Unitec architecture students practical skills. Read full citation.

Public Architecture - Te Kauwhata Library
NZIA Practice: Opus Architecture
A sculptural and vivacious exterior leads via a sweeping entry into a central vortex which then spills out to the pleasant pools that are the book spaces. Read full citation.

Enduring Architecture - Townhouses
NZIA Practice: Gilman Garry Clapp and Sayers
The original house was built in 1954 on the edge of a steep gulley filled with gorse, but soon wisely replanted in native species. Read full citation.

Interior Architecture - U Leisure Office Fitout
NZIA Practice: MOAA architects ltd
A fresh, contemporary and colourful interior, appropriate to its youthful inhabitants, has been set within a 1960s Waikato University building, retaining the original circular floor plate and timber ceiling. Read full citation.

Small Project Architecture - Whiritoa Bach
NZIA Practice: matter
With an invention born of necessity, this clever little bach – a pocket rocket of form and function – showcases the social and natural environment of a small Coromandel settlement.

Heritage & Interior Architecture - Wintec House
NZIA Practice: Chow:Hill Architects Ltd
A significant piece of Hamilton’s built history has been preserved with a care and thoughtfulness that respects the past while providing amenity to the present. Read full citation.

The restoration and upgrade of the historic F Block is sympathetic to the existing building while conducive to the modern occupation and use of its spaces. Read full citation.

2011 Local Architecture Award winners in other regions can be found here: Nelson Marlborough Architecture Awards; Auckland Architecture Awards; Canterbury Architecture Awards; Wellington Architecture Awards; Western Architecture Awards; Gisborne Hawkes Bay Architecture Awards.