Winners of the AAA Visionary Architecture Awards 2014 were announced at a ceremony in Auckland, 5 December. This year, nine projects were awarded for their exceptional visions for the future. 

The annual AAA Visionary Architecture Awards (previously the Unbuilt Architecture Awards) encourages unrestrained conceptual ideas in the field of architecture. Some are theoretical while others are already in the process of being built. This year, 140 entries were received from leading architectural practices and architectural students around the country.

This year’s judging panel was made up of: editor of Architecture New Zealand magazine Justine Harvey, 2014 NZIA Gold Medal winner Patrick Clifford and director at Mitchell & Stout Architects Julie Stout.

The 2014 Conceptual category winner ’Occupying Māori Architectural Time’ by Rehua Wilson was praised by the judging panel for its “intriguing vision of the representation of Māori values within architecture”.

“The sense of the Māori perception of time traverses both a particular frame of reference, as well as exploring this in a universal sense,” the judges said.

The Work in Progress category was taken out by a Jasmax team for its ‘Mobile Transit Lounge’. “The Mobile Transit Lounge is a welcome addition to the urban fabric of the city, with its distinctive folded form that has the potential to play out at different scales, the judges said.

“It also offers a fresh identity to the changing face of transport in Auckland.”

This year’s Student category award went to Raimana Jones for his project, ‘Architecture of Co-existence: Regenerating Royal Oak through Urban Acupuncture’. “This scheme is an exemplar for the regeneration of Auckland’s traditional urban villages; a project that builds on the language and scale of its context,” the judges said.

“This leads to a rich and intricate arrangement of spaces and uses that invites exploration.”

Run by the Auckland Architecture Association, The AAA Visionary Architecture Awards is a renowned event on Auckland’s architectural calendar. Over 23 years (since 1991), the AAA’s awards programme has recognised students and architects who have gone on to build some of New Zealand’s most acclaimed architecture.

For example, RTA Studio’s MacKelvie Street Precinct (a winner in 2013) is now an exciting feature on Auckland’s Ponsonby Road, while student award-winners have quickly gone onto work on important projects: Frances Cooper (highly commended in 2013) was a creative team member behind the New Zealand pavilion at the 2014 Venice Architecture Biennale.

Past award winners include Bossley Architects (The New Zealand Maritime Museum and the proposed new hotel on Auckland’s Waterfront), Cheshire Architects (Britomart Precinct), Fearon Hay Architects (North Wharf building and Te Kaitaka at Auckland Airport) and Patterson Associates (Geyser in Parnell and the NZ exhibition at the 2013 Frankfurt Book Pavilion).

See full list of winners below:

• Conceptual category winner: Occupying Maori Architectural Time by Rehua Wilson
• Conceptual category - highly commended: Architectural Espionage and the Superpanopticon by Lucy Warnock
• Conceptual category - highly commended: A New Agora: an architectural response to the emerging sub-centre by Grace Mills 
• Work In Progress category winner: Mobile Transit Lounge, by Matthew Glubb, Laura Cooke, Mark Craven, Hayden Grindell, Raphaela Rose, Patrick Loo, Jun Tsujimoto from Jasmax 
• Work In Progress - highly commended: The Cloud Tree by Sajeev Ruthra and Andrew Mitchell from Patterson Associates
• Student category winner: Architecture of Co-existence: Regenerating Royal Oak through Urban Acupuncture by Raimana Jones
• Student category - highly commended: The Flipping Sequence of a Very Tall Structure by Zaed Aznam Aquatecture: Aqueous Public Space in the Community, by Jeremy Wymer
• Student category - highly commended: Auckland’s Archipelago: Piecing together Myers Park by Kim Huynh
• Student category - highly commended: A monastic approach to rebuilding Christchurch’s Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament by Erica Kenny