Auckland Architecture Awards, NZIA 2010, Best New Zealand Buildings, Pictures, Architects

Auckland Architecture Awards 2010, New Zealand

NZIA 2010 Prize Winners – Citations Part 1

19 Oct 2010

Auckland Architecture Awards 2010 – Judges Citations : Part 1

Commercial Architecture

21 Queen Street
Peddle Thorp Aitken Limited

This project gained time and saved energy as a result of the decision to retain the structure of the existing building. The new tower is a vast improvement on the previous object that dominated what was the downtown square. Given the loss of that public space, the new skin is remedial in its shimmering elegance. The choice of glass for the façade provides both thermal comfort and a beautiful quality of light inside the building. Externally, the glass skin dissolves the planar surface with a subtly shifting geometry.

8 Canada Street
Wingate + Farquhar

This small but astutely proportioned commercial building, gives generously to the slightly derelict area in which it is located. Internally a slight shift in alignment allows the showroom and production functions to be separated without complete closure. Small slivers of red glass embedded in a richly textured concrete wall embellish the expansive production space. Both the materials and their use are innovative.

Auckland Heliport
Maxcey Architects Ltd

Lightness and precision are the hallmarks of this giant, somewhat austere, helicopter container. The design allows for views of the helicopters and the workers inside the building from the public walkway that fringes the Manukau harbour inlet. The banality sometimes associated with grid heavy projects has been circumvented by carefully managed geometry. The detailing is refined and precise.

Deloitte Centre
Warren and Mahoney Ltd and Woods Bagot in association

The most successful aspect of the Deloitte Centre is its relationship to the street outside and the opening up of the Queen Street corner. The enlarged public gathering area is a generous response to the opening on the other side of the road. The project is an example of constraints assisting the architecture. The architects may not have welcomed the retention of the Jean Batten building, yet it has provided a satisfying degree of urban complexity. The materiality of the new tower carefully meets the old condition with sensitive overlaps. The building is consistently detailed with a precise articulation of planes.

Heritage

Jean Batten Building
Warren and Mahoney Ltd with Woods Bagot and Dave Pearson Architects in association

A dual tension formed the backstory of this conservation project: a commercial desire for a clean slate and recognition by the Historic Places Trust (HPT) of the social importance of the building. Public pressure and the influence of the HPT resulted in the architects retaining more than simply a façade of the building. The spatiality of the heritage building has some depth and the detailing of the original is repeated in the restoration of the retained bay.

The New Greys Avenue
Peddle Thorp Aitken Limited

This respected piece of architecture with a dense and difficult history represented a significant design challenge. A diminishing congregation and the need to expand the school were drivers of the design. Based on the recognition of the close connection between schooling and worship, the project adroitly wraps a series of classrooms around the roof of the main worship space. The wickerwork originally intended to spread across the roof is now expansively proliferating. This weave at the centre of the space underlines the intended blurred connection between the old and the new.

TSB Bank Wallace Arts Centre at The Pah Homestead
Matthews & Matthews Architects

The renovation of this landmark nineteenth century house respects the past with a gentle renovation rather than a radical remake. The renovation celebrates previous innovations such as the curved glass windows. Working with skilful craftspeople, the architects have effectively preserved but not mummified the architecture allowing a new function to exist in the spaces of the past.

Interior Architecture

Workshop
Pohio Adams Pty Ltd

This shop fitout in an existing building employs elegance and restraint to achieve its aims. It makes the most of the grace and proportions of the structure, inserting a fine level of inventive and elegant detailing. It is a fine example of architecture closely and productively allying itself with fine art. The walls of the interior are marked with a calligraphic flourish by John Reynolds.