Thirty-six architectural projects across the Auckland region received a Te Kāhui Whaihanga New Zealand Institute of Architects Local Award at an event at Holy Trinity Cathedral in Parnell on 30 April.

In the Housing category, the Onetangi Cliff House by Herbst Architects won an award for responding to the site limitations of an unstable cliff face and overlooking a public beachfront promenade with a house that judges found “effortlessly addresses issues of context and resilience.”

Meanwhile the Catalina Bay Apartments by Architectus won a Housing – Multi Unit Award for using the protected view shaft of a nearby trig station as the catalyst for a fragmented, stepped form that engages its waterfront setting in a particularly elegant manner.

“This year’s awards highlight the value architects bring to projects in response to constraints of site, size and budget. These were all drivers for exceptional outcomes and a testament to the ability of architects to turn challenges into opportunities,” says jury convenor and architect Guy Tarrant.

In the Auckland CBD, the Horizon by SkyCity hotel by Warren and Mahoney and Moller Architects adopted a dynamic elliptical plan in response to a covenanted microwave signal corridor from the neighbouring TVNZ building in claiming a Commercial Architecture Award.
In the Small Project category, Lloyd Hartley Architects transformed a leftover sliver of land at a 24-hour carwash business into a sculptural bookend while also creating a storage room and staff amenities.

Projects this year also highlights architects’ continued commitment to exploring affordable housing solutions, featuring intelligent planning and innovative uses of new and sustainable materials. “With their Pocket Houses at Avenue Road, Dorrington Atcheson Architects have come up with a viable backyard housing model that challenges accepted norms of multi-unit housing design,” says Tarrant.

He was joined on the jury by Andrea Bell from bell + co in Dunedin, Katrina Keshaw from Keshaw McArthur, Elspeth Gray from Roberts Gray Architects, and Jasper van der Lingen from Sheppard & Rout in Christchurch.

The winning projects are:

Housing

Onetangi Cliff House by Herbst Architects 

This project is an exemplar of intense constraints driving an architectural response that is both poetic and beautiful. Situated on a sliver of land between an iconic, highly public beachfront promenade and an unstable cliff face, this house effortlessly addresses issues of context, privacy and resilience through a singular materiality and a rational but highly effective plan. A superb building.

Palimpsest House by Monk MacKenzie 

Ordered around a largely symmetrical plan that is almost Palladian in form, this house manages a level of detail, refinement and material restraint that is seldom present in houses of this kind. Residing under one vast horizontal square roof plane, both indoor and outdoor spaces calmly contain and frame views of a special landscape.

Sand Boxes by Herbst Maxcey Metropolitan Architects 

Casually stepping up its wooded site, this timber building evokes being in an elegant treehouse. The journey up to the principal living areas is rewarded with beautiful views over the canopy of mature pōhutukawa below. A choreographed series of terraces of skillfully controlled laminated timber post and beam construction orchestrate spatial drama and support a series of fixed and operable layers, which control light and privacy while providing textual richness. The real triumph of this building is the variable quality of light as you move vertically through the interior, an experience reminiscent of being within a forest canopy.

Palmers Beach House Aotea Great Barrier by Leuschke Group Architects 

Responding to the conundrum of view and sun lying in opposite directions this pavilion-style house allows its occupants to remain engaged with the beauty of its coastal setting while being protected from the elements. Glazed galleries afford views through the house from a sheltered courtyard carved out of the centre of the pinwheel plan form and maintain a connection to the coastline while moving through the interior. Separate bedroom wings at opposite sides of the central living space see the house expand and contract as holiday numbers flux. Mindfully chosen materials reduce the house’s visual presence and landscape disturbance within this special island setting.

Kawau Island House by Novak+Middleton 

Set high above the beach at Little Vivian Bay, this elegant retreat reflects generations of family history and a deep connection to place. Referencing a 1930s kitset bach, the modular timber home sits lightly amongst surrounding kānuka forest. Designed and delivered through a close collaboration between the architects, owners and building team, every detail was carefully considered to suit the site’s remote challenges. Prefabricated timber components reduced impact with minimal excavation. Shimmering mesh curtains provide shade and softness. Off-grid and low-impact, this is a home of quiet strength — deeply personal, beautifully resolved, and built with care and dedication.

 Muriwai Farmhouse by Mercer and Mercer Architects 

In response to a gently eastwards sloping site, this generous house steps and fragments to reduce its expansive plan and offer multiple perspectives of its rural setting. From arrival, the journey through the house is broken into half-metre intervals before arriving at a natural amphitheatre. Deceptively large and accommodating an extensive art and sculpture collection, this is a house that avoids pretense. The fractured plan creates multiple in-between spaces which both shelter and enclose the inhabitants, while principal spaces are connected by linear galleries that defer and extend discovery of the house.

Sefton House by Ashton Mitchell 

This is a welcoming family home that manages to overcome its steep and constrained context. Informed by Wellington housing typologies, the architect owners have created a sectionally rich, raking gabled house, which feels much larger than its modest size and unlocks expansive south-west views. Plywood wall linings and timber floors make for a warm and glowing interior, offsetting the more recessive and prosaic metal exterior cladding.

 Prospect House by MAUD 

This considered and beautifully detailed family home was a collaboration between the architect and an interior designer client with a passion for mid-century design. Long and low, this home pulls away from the edges of the site, allowing the creation of a series of distinct outdoor courtyards and gardens that are connected via views through the home. A rigorous 2.4 metre module was used as a structuring device to provide rhythm and order, with subtle shifts in plan, volume and light adding richness and variety. Material selection inspired by the clien’s memories of her grandparents’ home are of the period and the use of colour is subtle and consistent throughout.

Bush Block by Patchwork Architecture 

This modest home with its efficient rectangular plan floats above and reflects its bush-clad valley site. The architects’ inspired decision to exclude the car from the site means that the driveway is replaced with an entry bridge, a safe place to ride a bike and have a morning coffee. The garage becomes a ‘bus stop’ part way along the bridge, a storage space for bins and bikes. The use of full-height glazing extends the interior spaces out into the tree canopy. A square hallway fully bathed in natural light is a clever tool used to create a sense of generosity. Strong, earthy colours and simple materials such as cork and macrocarpa add richness and texture.

Housing – Alterations & Additions

Light Catcher by Jose Gutierrez 

Addressing the challenges of a narrow south-facing site, this elegant alteration provides an L-shaped courtyard focused around a shallow reflection pond that visually extends the original villa’s central circulation. Tall vertical volumes with clerestory windows oriented to the north and west punctuate the lineal plan. A serene and spatially dynamic alteration that effortlessly addresses the constraints of its context by creating long internal views and changes in volume.

Wainamu by Bureaux 

This house speaks to the image of a house as a container for people’s lives and memories. Organised around two cherished existing rooms, a simple generous verandah unifies a casual collection of new spaces of which the kitchen is the centre, effortlessly facilitating the clients’ love of hosting. Wonderfully relaxed and inviting.

Lava Flow by Pac Studio 

Perched on the edge of a volcanic precipice, this villa extension reclaims a once-disconnected home with grace and ingenuity. Stepping down through three levels, it follows the site’s steep terrain to reconnect with the land and open into a canopy of mature trees. A pyramid roof and sculpted skylight draw in shifting light, while a volcanic colour palette grounds the design in place and personality. Sensitive to heritage, light on carbon and rich in spatial storytelling, this project balances old and new with confidence and care.

 St Heliers House by Stevens Lawson Architects 

This elegant transformation revives a 1920s Arts and Crafts home, blending heritage with modern family living. A new pavilion opens to restored gardens, enhancing light and flow. Rich materials — oak, marble, and fluted details — harmonise past and present. Carefully curated interiors and landscaping preserve the home’s character, while thoughtful planning maintains its original street presence. Sustainable choices, including improved insulation, solar panels, and rainwater collection, ensure long-term performance. The result is a refined, grounded family home, perfectly attuned to both its history and its future.

19Q by SGA – Strachan Group Architects

Perched on a steep bush-clad site, this renovation to a 1980s pole house has rationalised the interior plan and streamlined the house’s exterior form without adding significantly to the original footprint. By simplifying roof forms, squaring off angled walls and making minor extensions to the plan, a calmer and more ordered series of spaces has emerged. Generous existing decks have become a shuttered outdoor room that extends the available living space and celebrates the house’s elevated position. Inside, soaring double-height spaces are contained and ordered by a series of slatted timber screens. This skillful reworking retains the volume and materiality of the original design, using them as a springboard for a house that is light-filled and airy with places for retreat and repose.

Alberon by Jack McKinney Architects

This alteration and addition to a special character Edwardian bay villa skilfully resolves issues of entry, connection and privacy. The new entry positioned between old and new allows direct access into the heart of the house. A voluminous new living and dining area is created to the south, with a highly reflective narrow stainless-steel skylight providing light and leading the eye out to the beautiful stepped garden beyond steel French doors. Contextual, moveable aluminium shutters to the edge of the newly formed elevated terrace create privacy and layered filtered light to the interior. The mainly white colour scheme is brought alive by the texture of the selected materials.

Housing – Multi Unit

Catalina Bay Apartments by Architectus

This is a large building elegantly conceived as ‘a series of architectural objects’. Townhouses adjoin and conceal a podium/carpark, activating a waterfront promenade and referencing the adjacent Sunderland hangar. Two stepping towers, separated to preserve views from nearby Harrier Park to a distant trig station, contain apartments that engage intensely with superb water views. Vertical and horizontal fenestration and rich materiality further reference surrounding hangar structural systems. Despite Catalina Bay’s ambitious programmatic aspirations, this building never feels overbearing or dominating of its context. Almost classical, it is a reminder of how good architecture can enrich the public realm.

One Saint Stephens by MAP

This was a challenging context in which to insert a building of this scale. Bounded on one side by an iconic cathedral and situated on a prominent ridge with views to the Auckland War Memorial Museum in one direction and the Waitematā Harbour in the other, One Saint Stephens employs recessed corner verandahs to reduce its bulk and activate its street presence. Glazed vertical elements further diminish the building’s scale while delivering full-height panoramic views to the apartments’ occupants. Material selections imbue the building with a sense of permanence and timelessness

Pocket Houses at Avenue Road by Dorrington Atcheson Architects

An imaginative response to the challenges of creating affordable multi-unit housing within a built-up suburban context, these houses have just a 36m2 footprint, making them a viable backyard housing solution. Identical in layout but cleverly placed to maximise both outdoor living and privacy, the two-bedroom Pocket Houses manage to feel surprisingly spacious by challenging accepted norms of finish and layout. Plywood interior linings and a polished concrete floor lend textual warmth to the generous ground floor living space while bespoke colour schemes for cabinetry allow occupants to apply their own personality. Raking exterior walls clad with terracotta roofing tiles provide a resilient finish and contribute to the uplifting character of these refreshing addition to the multi-unit housing space

Lightbox by Novak+Middleton 

Located on a ridge in Long Bay, with an open reserve to the northwest, views of the city to the east and stepped topography, this multi-unit medium-density housing scheme takes full advantage of its context. The combination of 3- and 4-level units, a subtle use of alternating white, grey and timber cladding, and the sunken private entry terraces create a layered pedestrian edge to the reserve. On the interior, the design team created a central courtyard that is open to the sky in the heart of each unit. This simple strategy provides daylight, nature, natural ventilation, and connection both horizontally and vertically throughout the houses, creating a dynamic spatial arrangement that elevates the design and the liveability of these homes.

Interior Architecture

InterContinental Hotel Auckland by Warren and Mahoney Architects 

This adaptive reuse of what started life as a 1970s office block offers visitors to Tāmaki Makaurau a gateway position overlooking the Waitematā Harbour and a calming retreat connected to the busy Commercial Bay precinct. Maximising the original building’s floor height and fully embracing its font row harbour views, the interior of the InterContinental balances luxury and space with an intimate connection to the bustling waterfront landscape. The disciplined background palette is imbued with textual richness from dark timber and volcanic references that further speak to the hotel’s context. Works by New Zealand artists share stories of the site’s cultural significance and ground guests in the locality.

Horizon by SkyCity by Warren and Mahoney Architects and Moller Architects

Reimaging the romance of an era of glamour travel, this hotel transports guests into a highly crafted interior imbued with quiet luxury. Lofty public spaces, including an external courtyard with planting and active water elements, are appointed around the elliptical plan form, with a 12-storey atrium providing immediate drama at the entry. Here the architects have referenced the natural world with 18 abstracted floating two-metre high pōhutukawa leaves. A bespoke and seductive interior that evokes a grand age of travel.

Deloitte Auckland by Fisher Partners and Custance Associates 

Vertical movement generated by a central stairwell spanning six floors creates social energy and cohesion and supports a transparent work culture. Flexible planning allows for a range of working methods from collaborative group meetings to individual breakout spaces. Catering for a maximum workforce of 900 employees, this is a large office that manages to feel intimate and personal even when not fully occupied. Subtle design references acknowledge the significance of its gateway waterfront location.

Small Project Architecture

Washworld by Lloyd Hartley Architects

The Washworld HQ successfully utilises a small, triangular piece of land, fitting a functional two-storey building into the southernmost corner of a busy 24/7 carwash site. With a 40m² footprint, the lower level accommodates storage and staff amenities, while the upper level provides a north-west facing office. The design makes use of durable, robust materials, including precast concrete and steel to withstand the demands of the environment. The subtle use of cedar on the upper level softens the otherwise utilitarian building, ensuring it performs well in both function and longevity

Karanga Changing Sheds by Pac Studio 

The Karanga Changing Sheds embody sustainable design with a playful, colourful approach, blending architectural presence with a carbon-positive ethos. Developed with Eke Panuku, the modular structures use recycled and pre-consumer waste materials, including timber shingles and panels made from ocean plastics. Prioritising longevity and adaptability, the architects implemented a circular economy approach, ensuring materials are reusable and the project has minimal environmental impact. This initiative not only meets immediate needs but also sets a precedent for sustainable, temporary urban interventions, showing how such structures can contribute positively to both the environment and the urban experience. 

 So Fresh, So Clean by W3

Utilising a set of carefully considered key strategies within an extremely tight budget and site, the architect has elevated a banal typology to create a balanced, sculptural form — a beacon of hope amongst a sea of beige. This four-bedroom house directly addresses the ever-increasing need for low-cost quality family homes and shows the value that architects bring throughout the whole process of design and construction to deliver a quality outcome to the mainstream.

Enduring Architecture

The Point (2000) by Moller Architects 

Twenty-five years on, The Point apartments are still an exemplar for how this type of building should be done. As a response to the poor quality of apartments being designed and constructed in the late 1990s, Moller Architects decided this apartment building would be different. Livable spaces, intuitive and generous circulation and expansive outdoor rooms that properly function were part of the manifesto. Defining and activating an urban edge, the Point Apartments turn their harbourside location into a vibrant promenade. Deeply recessed verandahs, articulated by visually light steel structure with operable cedar screens provide privacy and climate control for the apartments’ occupants while dynamically enriching the public realm.

Commercial Architecture

RTA Studio – Studio by RTA Studio and Jack McKinney Architects in association 

A former engineering workshop presented the opportunity for RTA to create a new studio that more closely reflected its core values of sustainability, collaboration and design excellence. Celebrating the building’s heritage, this new architecture shed elegantly accommodates a variety of open and enclosed spaces. Organised by a linear timber-lined ‘box within a box’, meeting rooms and private spaces are effortlessly concealed. A valuable insertion into a rejuvenating light industrial area on the city fringe.

SeaLink Wynyard Ferry Terminal by Architectus 

The SeaLink building is a strong presence in the industrial port environment, clearly expressing its function as a portal to the Hauraki Gulf islands. It transcends its prosaic purpose with a folded perforated metal screen cladding that evokes the surrounding context of containers and sheet piling in a poetic way. The perforated pattern that tells the story of its maritime setting was designed by local mana whenua artists Maaka Potini and Ted Ngataki (Ngāti Tamaoho). This is a clearly laid out economical building that expresses its purpose, context and cultural narrative in an elegant, strong manner.

303 Remuera Road by Fearon Hay Architects

This office building forms a strong addition to the Remuera Road commercial area, terminating the vista and leading one around the bend in the road towards the suburb’s centre. The variety in height and openings reflect the adjacent retail grain and scale, mitigating the potential dominance of this major addition. A palette of exposed concrete and terracotta sun screening provides a robust, durable impression arranged in a restrained manner while still providing interest to the public realm. The tall, combined vehicle and office entry, with a café also sharing this space, is an unexpected arrangement that gives a sense of scale and drama to the entrance and the street, elevating it to more than just a car park entry. A major insertion into a significant part of the Auckland environment, this quality development stands strong on its own while also reflecting and enhancing its immediate context in subtle and meaningful ways.

Horizon by SkyCity by Warren and Mahoney Architects and Moller Architects

Occupying a remnant of land between the new International Convention Centre and the TVNZ building, the Horizon hotel plan form is shaped by constraints — a microwave signal corridor covenant attached to its broadcast neighbour and a protected volcanic cone view shaft. The resulting elliptical plan is a defining moment for the project, providing both highly legible single-loaded circulation for guests and the building’s sculptural form. Subtly referencing its TVNZ neighbour to the north, it also creates opportunities for entrance definition in a newly created laneway between the hotel and its monolithic neighbour to the south. This is an important and elegant insertion into an area that is becoming a gateway to the CBD.

Education

Pukekohe High School Learning Block by DCA Architects of Transformation 

This two-storey school is a place that through its architecture demonstrates care and respect for the students and staff housed within. The flexibility of space, which allows for both separated teaching spaces and areas open to each other and the exterior, provides for a wide variety of pedagogical practices as well as generous transparency throughout. The materials and colours give a sense of quality, durability and vibrancy to the building and create a stimulating and enjoyable place to be and learn. The use of external sun screening and references to cultural narratives, such as the Pātaka on the front façade, lift the project beyond a simple prosaic school project and make it a place that is inspiring to be in and a learning tool.

AUT Tukutuku by Jasmax 

An ambitious university building that rationalises and ties together the layout of the AUT North Campus, Tukutuku demonstrates how a real commitment to sustainability and carbon capture can create a delightful place to be that is a joy to both inhabit and move around. This building is an exemplar, from the striking angled aluminum fin façade, arranged to mitigate heat gain while still providing views out and good daylighting through, to the warmth of the exposed mass timber structure and the dramatic atrium. It shows how well-considered, fully embodied, sustainable principles can infuse a significant piece of architecture that is an inspiring place of learning and uplifts the spirit.

Manutara – Murrays Bay Primary School by Warren and Mahoney 

Manutara is a robust, well-proportioned two-storey building housing 10 teaching spaces. Immediately visible as you enter the school grounds, it presents a strongly modelled and welcoming gatehouse to visitors. A large, brick-clad, simple gable form, a tall colonnade facing the courtyard gives it real presence. The colonnade provides a layered edge to the outdoor gathering area and has a pleasing sense of scale and permanence without fuss. The interior is largely cellular in nature, with some connectivity between spaces via glazed sliding doors giving a degree of flexibility for various pedagogies. This is a building with a simple, robust elegance that will serve the school community well in the future and provide an inspiring place to learn.

Hiwa – University of Auckland Recreation and Wellness Centre by Warren and Mahoney and MJMA Architecture & Design Toronto 

This state-of-the-art fitness and wellness facility has redefined the centre of the University of Auckland campus. Traditionally an inward facing typology, the architects have instead created a building that fully engages with the public and urban realm, as well as providing world-class facilities for sporting, social and community activities. An innovative stacked vertical composition with spilt levels and clear vertical circulation provides a horizontal connection through the building on every level out to the campus and city beyond. Cultural design narratives have been seamlessly woven and embedded into the design. This pulsing energy patterning is used throughout, from the beautifully carved timber handrail details to the cladding where the rippling, reflective surface mirrors the surrounding buildings and trees.

Heritage

 St Mary’s Old Convent Chapel Restoration by Salmond Reed Architects 

This sensitive restoration of a landmark historic chapel within the grounds of Auckland’s St Mary’s Convent has faithfully returned a cherished built taonga to its original form. Exquisite leadlight windows, Gothic Revival timber detailing and the chapel’s original heritage colour scheme have all been reinstated as part of the extensive restoration works. Honouring the chapel’s strong spiritual, social and cultural values and harnessing the talents of skilled artisans and tradespeople, the architects have ensured this historically significant building continues to serve the St Mary’s community as a special place of worship, education and gathering. 

Grey Lynn Public Conveniences by Matthews & Matthews Architects 

This sensitive restoration of a public building that has quietly served the Grey Lynn community for more than 80 years has created an uplifting environment that celebrates its elegant Moderne architecture while adapting to modern-day needs. Timber-lined light wells introduce softness to a freshly planned interior where finishes honour the building’s Art Deco origins while delivering resilience to a hard-working public facility. Richly detailed using a modern palette of materials sensitive to the building’s heritage values, the Grey Lynn Public Conveniences fulfil their service role with newfound grace and dignity.

The NZIA Architecture Awards programme is supported by Resene and APL.