Innholdsfortegnelse for July-August 2022 i Architecture NZ

“THE GOVERNMENT CLEARLY WANTS to wipe out Auckland’s historic suburbs,” asserts Margot McRae in a fiery piece in the Herald in late June. She’s talking about the recently imposed regulations intended to solve the housing crisis by increasing residential density – the National Policy Statement on Urban Development (NPS-UD), introduced in August 2020, and the Medium Density Residential Standards (MDRS), introduced in October 2021 with National’s blessing. The NPS-UD requires councils to allow for at least up to six-storey buildings within walkable distances of the city centre, metropolitan centres and rapid transit stops. The MDRS allows for up to three homes of up to three storeys on most residential sites. McRae, chair of Devonport Heritage and long-time campaigner for heritage protection, was trying to defend Auckland Council’s proposal to allow designated…

Crosson Architects’ new lifeguard tower at North Piha, west of Auckland, may be modest in scale but its sentry-like presence on the rugged west coast beach is conspicuously commanding. “The brief was for a robust building that will withstand the severe North Piha coastal environment,” explains architect Ken Crosson. “It needed to provide accommodation for four lifeguards with excellent visibility along the beach: a building that is functional and responds to its context.” Gifted the name Te Pae (sentinel or guardian) by local iwi Te Kawerau ā Maki, the tower is made up of prefabricated concrete sections, assembled on site to minimise dune and planting disturbance. The black oxide concrete references the black sands of the beach while the design is a nod to the historic maritime observation structures still…

The fate of the Ian Athfield-designed First Church of Christ Scientist at 285 Willis Street, Wellington, lies in the hands of the Wellington City Council after a ‘Consent to Demolish’ application was lodged in early June. The new owner of the 1275m2 central city site, CS No.2 Ltd, plans to replace the 1984 NZIA National Award-winning building with a temporary sales office. The application lodged with Council says: “In the Applicant’s opinion… the proposal to demolish the existing building on the site and establish a sales office is consistent with the purpose of the Resource Management Act, in that it will enable the Applicant to begin the redevelopment of the site for a future residential apartment building.” Athfield Architects principal Jon Rennie says the practice is keen to discuss whether…

Practice in Profile Supported by WHO WE ARE The work of landscape architects is often unseen and, frequently, considered when it is too late. We do our best work when we are part of a project’s inception, designing outcomes that fit the environment and make it better, for people and place. Our design ethic is inspired by place; we are not imposers of an aesthetic or a mantra. Each place – the people in it and the purpose of change through design – is different. We respond to the specific, seeking better outcomes and leaving our own personality out of it. That has been the Boffa Miskell mark from the beginning and it’s one we still value today. In September 1972, Frank Boffa left his role at Lincoln University to…

KEI TE TUA O MANUKAU, TE KITE KI MURI, ki te kupenga o taramainuku – When you pass out beyond the Manukau waters, do not look back until you reach, or pass, the net of taramainuku. I open with this whakataukī (proverb) as a way to mihi (introduce) Kōtukutuku Papakāinga. It now embodies the proverb, which also mapped a course in the design process: that the design was to be a safety net for Mahitahi’s tangata whaiora (client base). Kōtukutuku Papakāinga is a fit-for-purpose social housing project located in Ōtara, South Auckland, led by Mahitahi Trust, with design by TOA Architects. The Trust’s services support people and community in well-being journeys and rangatiratanga (the right to self-determination). The Papakāinga is made up of 40 single-bedroom, fully furnished apartments over two…

TE WHANGANUI-A-TARA Winner — Supreme Design — Te Kāhui Toi and Athfield Architects Winner — Civic project — Te Rau Karamu Marae Massey University Wellington Te Whanganui-a-Tara client — Massey University massey.ac.nz design — Te Kā hui Toi and Athfield Architects athfieldarchitects.co.nz design team — Kura Puke, Stuart Foster, Ari Stevens photography — Russell Kleyn Jury comment — Te Rau Karamu Marae is the architectural and cultural embodiment of mana, commanding in presence in the central city of Pōneke Wellington. An incredible offering to students, whānau and the wider hapori, this whare gives rise to the modern world of architecture while still portraying and acknowledging its unwavering foundations in te ao Māori. Embracing modern technology in its form and materiality and, at the same time, staying steadfast to tikanga, this…

MONK MACKENZIE — Winner — Emerging Design Professional Current design practice — Monk Mackenzie Jury comment — Threading the multiple roles of mother, artist and architect throughout her work, Raukura’s collaborative and craft-based approach is both sensitive and powerful at once. Her work represents a direct translation of her navigation of matauranga Māori together with an innate understanding of the design tools available to express architecture and interiors in an artistic way. Her cohesive, holistic projects demonstrate a pursuit of excellence at the highest level, within both te ao Māori and the built environment. With her exceptional and remarkably grounded approach, Raukura is an inspiration, in the professional realm, to wāhine Māori, Māori and, indeed, to all of Aotearoa. designer — Raukura Turei project involvement — Ōwairaka House, Foodstuffs North Island…

I AM TRYING TO FIGURE OUT the size of things, as I have been for most of my life. At various times, I have seized on books, those handbooks stuffed full of drawings and dimensions. I have given to them all the authority of tablets received from on high. I liked the certainty they delivered: the comfort of knowing a British or European standard person required only so much space to stand in front of a clothes washer and just so much more to do the ironing. These tomes, the AJ Metric Handbook, Ramsey and Sleeper, Neudorf and others, were the holy scripts of functional design, prescriptive schema which would guide us to well-functioning buildings. The spatial certainty these books offered was matched by the near-endless stream of hot tips that…

Plans have been unveiled for a restrengthened Te Matapihi ki te Ao Nui Central Library in Wellington’s Te Ngākau Civic Precinct, which will enable the heritage building to continue serving the city’s growing community. The Central Library was closed in March 2019 after the Council received advice from engineers that the building had structural vulnerabilities. The new design provides for increasing accessibility and connection with Te Ngākau Civic Precinct by raising a substantial portion of the ground-floor level and increasing the public entry points from one to four, explains Nick Strachan of Athfield Architects. “The refurbishment will change the way people move through, experience and interact with the collection and programmes being offered,” says Strachan. “There is increased glazing to the building façade, a café incorporated on the ground floor,…

Few of this country’s architecture practices can claim more than 100 years in business and perhaps even fewer can trace their roots to one of New Zealand’s most acclaimed architects. Notable Christchurch architect William Trengrove founded his practice in 1922 and was later joined by his son John, who gained a diploma in architecture from Auckland University in 1954. Sir Miles Warren worked alongside the father and son duo before setting up his own practice in 1955 and then forming Warren and Mahoney with Maurice Mahoney in 1958. Following the death of his father in 1953, John Trengrove was joined by Keith Marshall as a partner and the company became Trengrove, Trengrove & Marshall. When Marshall retired in 1976, Richard Blunt became a director and the business was renamed Trengrove…

THE NEWLY COMPLETED MARAE FOR THE Massey University Wellington Pukeahu campus is the latest expression of contemporary marae serving public and tertiary institutions in Aotearoa. Opened in 2021, Te Rau Karamu punches above its weight, with its deft spatial reordering of the main public courtyard of the campus combined with extraordinary contemporary whakairo forming a te ao Māori expression of power and beauty. Designed by Athfield Architects and the collective of contemporary Māori artists and makers Te Kāhui Toi, the project took many years to realise: time which is evidenced in the depth of an outcome which is both simple and richly layered. It is the dual contribution of form and whakairo, the architects (and their early advisors) and the artist-designers (supported by tohunga and tribal leaders) that have achieved…

GREY LYNN, AUCKLAND — Winner — Retail  Design — Wonder project — Forté Showroom Grey Lynn, Auckland client — Forté Flooring forte.co.nz design — Wonder wonder.group design team — Buster Caldwell, Seina Yan photography — Jono Parker Jury comment — An immensely rich and welcoming project, this showroom tells a beautiful, bold story for Forté and the true hero, timber. The designers have reduced the space to a series of strong, crafted elements, pure forms and ideas, which come together in a harmonious environment that incorporates advanced 3D-printed elements alongside heavy, raw, natural materials with great success. This collaborative project brought together family members and makers, working collaboratively to create a space where the level of craftsmanship, care and attention to detail is palpable throughout.…

CENTRAL AUCKLAND — Winner — Healthcare and Wellness  Design — Jasmax project — AUT Te Ā huru Recreation Centre Central Auckland client — Auckland University of Technology aut.ac.nz design — Jasmax jasmax.com design team — Chris Scott, Sarah Kirk, Stephanie Darlington, Laura Mahon, Hayden Grindell, Jane Rickit photography — Sam Hartnett Jury comment — Off the back of the Covid-19 pandemic, economic uncertainty and global unrest, we are in an age where mental health and well-being are more important than ever before. As such, it is a joy to see a university accept this wero (challenge) and actively stand up and make a difference. This building, dedicated to the health and well-being of its students, offers a place of respite – to breathe, play, have fun and remove the sensory…

Te Rau Aroha design — Workshop e workshope.co.nz project — Te Rau Aroha Waitangi client — Waitangi National Trust waitangi.org.nz design team — Az James (Creative Director), Janneen Love (Content Development), Scott Parker (3D Design), Julian James-Brown (Spatial Design), Tania Price (Media Design), Jess Gommers (2D Design) photography — Fran Parker New Zealand Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai design — Jasmax jasmax.com project — New Zealand Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai client — NZTE nzte.govt.nz design team — Jasmax, Haumi, Te Āti Haunui-a-Pāpārangi, Workshop e, Kaynemaile, Mott MacDonald photography — Mohamed Somji Finalists — Workplace (over 1000m2) Silver Fern Farms design — Unispace unispace.com project — Silver Fern Farms Dunedin client — Silver Fern Farms silverfernfarms.com design team — Daniel Grinter, Anna Parbury, Rebecca Au photography — David Straight Colliers…

Designed as a ‘sculpture in the landscape’, Profile Group’s new 5 Green Star-rated Hautapu manufacturing facility south-east of Hamilton provides a distinctly simple response to the challenge of creating infrastructure of vast scale. The Jasmax-designed combined production plant and office facility, which has a floor area the size of approximately six rugby fields (49,000m2), comprises two transparent ends on a 110m-wide x 430m-long shell of folded steel. “The facility promotes advances in sustainability and efficiencies in the production of both aluminium joinery and double-glazing units,” says project lead architect Nick Moyes. “It’s achieving a 40 per cent reduction in energy use and CO2 emissions, thanks to its energy-efficient façade design, warm roof, low-carbon and green-certified material selections, and low-impact amenities, such as LED factory lighting.” Hydraulic underfloor heating keeps employees…

MORNINGSIDE, AUCKLAND — Winner — Workplace (up to 1000m2) Design — Studio 11:11 project — Ārepa Morningside, Auckland client — Angus Brown, Zachary Robinson drinkarepa.com design — Studio 11:11 studio-11-11.com design team — Annabel Smart, Young Do photography — James K Lowe Jury comment — Ārepa is an excellent example of a small-budget fit-out executed well. The designers have clearly recognised the raw beauty of the base building shell and created a calm, light-filled workplace with calibrated spaces and soft, neutral finishes. Thoughtful decisions have been made about the absolute essentials the office needs and every one of these elements has become a beautifully crafted object. Minimalist Donald Judd-like aluminium shelving sits alongside rough-sawn macrocarpa plinths and vintage furniture. The refined, restrained tone of the cabinetry and furniture within the…

ABEL TASMAN — Winner — Residential Design — Johnstone Callaghan Architects Jury comment — The designers appear to have touched every aspect of this carefully crafted cabin and it shows. While incorporating a great many ideas, the result is beautifully distilled, with the design and detailing illustrating a harmony of material relationships and, at the same time, retaining a complexity of spatial experiences. The pursuit of this material and spatial cohesiveness is evident in the smallest details, from the bespoke brass sink to the cast bronze door handle. The cabin’s immaculate detailing throughout and response to its remote location, with the lines between interior and exterior intentionally blurred, speak to the true meaning of escape. project — The Cabin Abel Tasman design — Johnstone Callaghan Architects jc-a.co.nz design team —…

SANDRINGHAM, AUCKLAND — Winner — Multi-Housing  Design — Jasmax project — 26 Aroha Ave Sandringham Auckland client — Blair and Julie MacKinnon 26Aroha.co.nz design — Jasmax jasmax.com design team — James Whetter, Prue Fea, Liam McRoberts, Nikki Senekal, Jerome Partington photography — Dennis Radermacher Jury comment — This build-to-rent, owner-developer project in Auckland’s Sandringham is not only environmentally sustainable but, also, socially and economically sustainable, providing 13 high-quality, affordable apartments for long-term renters. Spaces are light filled, warm and generous, with a celebration of community on the rooftop, where one might normally expect to find an exclusive penthouse. The 10 Homestar rating certified apartments feature textured concrete blockwork for thermal mass, sustainably grown cork flooring and, in a nod to history and connection, reused timber kitchen handles and bathroom benches…

Supported by Bill McKay describes churches as providing “gathering spaces at the hearts of communities”. Being intimately linked to key life events, such as weddings and funerals, they unsurprisingly can hold profound emotional significance, even for non-churchgoers. For example, many of the loudest voices advocating for the restoration of Christchurch’s quake-damaged Anglican cathedral were from outside the church. For them, the building’s symbolic and civic value outweighed its lack of fit with the contemporary spiritual and social needs of those who actually used it, and whose desire was for a good-fit building at a fraction of the cost of restoration. Our significant religious buildings are no longer just churches and synagogues – the Fo Guang Shan Buddhist Temple in east Auckland is the size of a whole city block –…

A four-year-old sits next to an organist in St Peter’s in Upper Riccarton, Ōtautahi Christchurch, and is invited to play on one of the South Island’s only two regal organs. A past occupant of the former Addington Gaol brings his family to the cell that he once occupied. At the Redcliffs Village Library, a retired gentleman whispers to the expert speaker that he used to be an architect, too. These moments of social (and cultural) connection are what Open Christchurch, a celebration and invitation to visit the city’s most exceptional architecture, is all about. While the festival is in only its second year, judging by its enthusiastic attendance and talk of the next one, it has already secured its place in the hearts of Cantabrians. Te Pūtahi, Centre for Architecture…