On Wednesday 29 August, Resene held its annual Total Colour Awards, a celebration of bold, ambitious and unexpected colour use in our built environment. See a full list of winners below with jury citations.

Resene Total Colour Master Nightingale Award and Education Primary Award

• Freemans Bay School by RTA Studio Ltd

“Embracing the site, the design, the community and its colour palette, this project demonstrates a commanding mastery of colour. Strong like a meeting house, the colour is both anchoring and welcoming and used with such care. Appealing to young and old, the palette brings this school into the central heart of the community.”

Resene Total Colour Landscape Award

• Kea Enclosure – Wellington Zoo by Isthmus Group Ltd

“The robustness of products and colours aptly reflect the nature of the inhabitants, with a pop of colour anchoring a focal point. The diversity and toughness of materials and the depth of the colour palette brings an appreciation for life in the wild.”

Resene Total Colour Landscape Colour Maestro Award

• Sandringham Reserve Community Led Design, in partnership with Katy Wallace and SPiCE, by Dave Little and Claire Liesching of Auckland Council

“Bringing together the colours and culture of the community, this colourful playground brings back favourite playground memories from childhood. Fun but not brash, the palette has a nostalgic feel that appeals to young and old. The careful scattering of colour is lively but not overpowering, the perfect energy boost for playing. It’s a retro delight.”

Resene Total Colour Installation-Experiential – Product Award

• Jonah - Brick Bay Sculpture Trail by Cynthia Yuan, Kevin Ding Kun, Kim Huynh and Norman Wei

“The clever application of a palette of Resene paint colours to mesh brings a translucency to the paint that isn’t usually seen. The colour shows off the skeletal form for an ethereal effect as the colours seamlessly flow into each other. The palette transcends the seasons and draw in visitors for closer inspection in all weather. Colour makes this project.”

Resene Total Colour Rising Star Award

• A Foray into Play by Elise Cautley

“This colour treatment is a fresh take on colour use in nature. Brave and celebrating the structure in colour, there are no camouflage colours here. Playful yet respectful, the colour palette is sympathetic to natural greens using a pop of bold colours that can be found in floral brights. The colour and structure lifts you off the forest floor.”

Resene Total Colour Rising Star Colour Maestro Award

• Mate, You’re Dreamin’ by Qun Zhang

“Ambitious and very entrancing, this is beautifully thought through and presented as a well developed solution for current ills. The design is cocooning in colour and form, with the colour palette reinforcing the shape of the structure and the sense of being enveloped in a big hug.”

Resene Total Colour Education Early Childhood Award

• Little Wings Early Childhood Education Centre by Emma Morris Architecture Ltd and Keshaw McArthur Ltd

“A lovely departure from the usual bold colours, the colour palette is playful and cosy, yet soothing and calming for busy minds. It’s a grown up solution for children and very carefully thought through. The Resene paint colours are beautifully integrated and applied so they aren’t competing for attention.”

Resene Total Colour Education Tertiary Award

• Wellington Girls’ College, Te Kāreti Kōtiro o Te Whanganui-a-Tara by Emma Alcock of McKenzie Higham Architects

“Connecting through colour, the bold colour entry highlights brings disparate buildings together for a sense of cohesion. Selected carefully the colours are of a similar intensity, bold but not shrieking. Neutral greys and whites clean up the architecture allowing the wayfinding colours to take centre stage. The mix of substrates provides added texture and shadowing. Both powerful and practical.”

Resene Total Colour Residential Interior Award

• Te Horo Bach by Gerald Parsonson and Zac Vermuelen of Parsonson Architects

“Bringing the outdoors in, this bach feels at home with nature on the inside, as it does on the outside. The combination of materials and colourways brings with it an instant fun, holiday vibe with a sense of relaxation and escape. The perfect antidote to city life.”

Resene Total Colour Residential Interior Colour Maestro Award

• Polychrome House by Sonia van de Haar of Lymesmith

“Adventurous and fun, this home deliberately plays with colour to celebrate the owners’ individuality. Dual colour palettes are interwoven and respond to artwork, furniture and each other in unexpected ways. Colour rules were made to be broken. This home wholeheartedly embraces a fearless love of colour.”

Resene Total Colour Residential Colourful Room Award

• Mt Macedon Residence by Charlotte Coote of Coote&Co

“With a standalone room you can dare to go bold. No holds barred, it is whimsical, fun, beautiful and brave. This dining room has a sense of modern meets Victorian. The rich colour and varying sheen levels creates a rich atmosphere for dining. The walls feel like they are singing in the background.”

Resene Total Colour Residential Colourful Room Colour Maestro Award

• Historic House Bathroom by Debra Delorenzo of One Ranfurly Ltd

“Inspiration can come from anywhere and what better inspiration to draw on than the beauty of a historic stained glass window as this room does. This room has been carefully dressed in colour with multi-coloured paint hues changing the sense of space. The floor is anchored in colour and delightfully reflected in the colours overhead. Unexpected and uplifting.”

Resene Total Colour Residential Exterior Award

• Te Horo Bach by Gerald Parsonson and Zac Vermuelen of Parsonson Architects

“Subtle and softly retro, the washed out beachy tones gently settle this home into its environment. Yet this home is more colourful than first meets the eye. Working within covenants, the colour reads front on within the covenant requirements, but viewed side on, more colour emerges. It’s an inspiring use of colour where most would settle for neutrals.”

Resene Total Colour Residential Exterior Colour Maestro Award

• Montreal Street Houses by Annabel Cropper of Nott Architects Ltd

“Adventurous, bold, fun and completely unexpected. The rural leanings of the streetscape acts as the gatekeeper to the colour within so that the bold blue is only enjoyed by those who make it past the front door. This is a totally unconventional and courageous colour combination to come home to, perfect for a family that isn’t afraid to go bold.”

Resene Total Colour Neutrals Award

• Herd Street Office by Charlotte Minty of Charlotte Minty Interior Design and Amelia Minty of Minty Architecture and Design

“An instant favourite, this neutral palette draws you in and makes you feel at home. The neutral hues wrap empathetically over the industrial architecture for a commercial space that feels domesticated and restful, without the normal stress of a busy office. Beautifully finished, this project captures the power of neutrals.”

Resene Total Colour Commercial Exterior Award

• Hotel Ravesis Refurbishment by Aya Larkin

“So delicious and irresistible, like a summertime gelato or a sweet marshmallow. The colours play on the original shapes and character with gorgeous pinks varying in gradations and dimension making the building feel larger than it is. The rhythm of colour draws you in.”

Resene Total Colour Commercial Exterior Colour Maestro Award

• The Club Grandstand Riccarton Park by Alan Cowie of Design Team

“Salvation by paint and colour, the colour palette highlights the soaring proportions through accentuated vertical lines and careful placement of colour that draws your attention into the design highlights. A clever use of colour to camouflage and to celebrate. This building has been elevated with colour.”

Resene Total Colour Commercial Interior Office Award

• Cahoots by Louise Evans of Lemon Creative

“Youthful exuberance spills out of this project, with a delightful and colourful sense of optimism and energy. Behind the colours, is a journey of learnings and a tenacity to never give up. A playful overlay on an old neglected space, this project is a talking point that exemplifies what you can do when you make your own colour rules.”

Resene Total Colour Commercial Interior Office Colour Maestro Award

• AA Insurance by Stack Interiors Ltd

“Using the company’s logo as inspiration, then developing it spatially, this project incorporates corporate colour in a sophisticated way. Rather than being beholden to vast expanses of the brand colour, the essence of the brand is judiciously woven into the fit-out for an uplifting easy to work in office space.”

Resene Total Colour Commercial Interior Public + Retail Award

• Moore Wilson’s - Porirua Bottle Warehouse by Human Dynamo Workshop

“Cheerful, friendly and lively, this wine and beer sales location has a personality of its own. Drawing on history, it brings together a charming nautical experience and colourways for an uplifting shopping experience. With an eclectic and slightly vintage use of colour and a nod to history and the local coastline, it feels like it has always belonged.”

Resene Total Colour Commercial Interior Public + Retail Colour Maestro Award

• Oamaru Blue Penguin Colony by Annabel Berry of Design Federation

“Delightfully authentic, this project is wrapped top to toe in penguin friendly hues. The palette is inspired by the sea, captured through extensive underwater exploration and photography and penguin plumage. The palette truly reflects the colours penguins would see daily in their natural habitat and brings this above sea level for visitors to enjoy.”

Resene Total Colour Lifetime Achievement Award

• Gerald Parsonson

“Looking through the work of Gerald Parsonson, there is a rhythm of colours that runs through his projects – sometimes it is brighter and bolder, sometimes it meanders softly. Each project has its own colour rhythm, no two are alike. Each palette is carefully curated for each owner, their lifestyle and the way they want to use their space. It’s a reminder for all of us that colour can reflect who we are and how we want to live our lives and that we should never be afraid to choose to live with the colours we love.”