Innholdsfortegnelse for July/August 2024 i Architecture NZ

“SURPRISE AT NEW CHINESE CONTAINER-style Kāinga Ora apartments for Sandringham”, blared the clickbait headline of a Herald story at the end of May. Some of the residents of the inner-city Auckland suburb were indeed surprised at how quickly the six new apartments in two three-level blocks were craned into place in just one day. While some may argue prefabricated building at speed is just what is needed to tackle our housing crisis, some in the street of predominantly California bungalows combined with brick-and-tile single-level units were shocked at what they saw. “We’re starting to look like ghetto cities that we see in other countries,” said one. I guess that means cities with too many people crammed together in impoverished conditions resulting in a high crime rate – US cities, perhaps,…

This year’s Open Christchurch, organised by Te Pūtahi Centre for Architecture and City Making, saw the opening of more than 50 notable buildings and three designed landscapes around Ōtautahi as well as more than 40 additional activities take place from Friday 3 to Sunday 5 May. Currently in its fourth consecutive year, the programme allows designed spaces to become porous, transparent and approachable. It is accessible; this is an event for anyone who has an invested interest in our past and future built environments. ‘Crossing thresholds’ has a twofold meaning. It represents the physical action of entering buildings and it also represents the concept of transgressing ideas: an apparent literary device that propels the plot forward. By opening the discussion and allowing for an honest, fully immersive experience, often guided…

How did you end up in the world of interior design? Such a long time ago! It actually came pretty early on – I always enjoyed designing and making things at school and was also keen on the technical aspect of design. While I appreciated art, I wasn’t the best but I enjoyed pencil drawing nonetheless. When it came to making some further study decisions, design seemed a natural path for me. I studied interior architecture at university in the UK and then transitioned into the design world after I arrived in New Zealand. Is there anything in particular that influences your design thinking? Personally, I’m a huge fan of modernism and, specifically, Californian modernist design. It blends the simplicity of the essence of modernism but adds a touch of…

Winner — Supreme Winner — Retail Design — Architecture Van Brandenburg Jury comment — This monumental project threw out the rule book and draped itself across the space with whimsical, sculptural and textural artistry. As if from another planet, the organic design cleverly gives you just enough to ground you back on earth, as you move through a catacombs-like space of repeating vaulted arches and cloisters. Garments are celebrated and displayed as art, set within a collection of materiality and surfaces that use recycled ceramic, brick and stone to celebrate the past while looking to the future. An outstanding example of response to brief, expression of form-making, attention to detail and collaboration with craftspeople, this intriguing and somewhat unprecedented interior challenged the jurors to confront their own values as designers in the…

Winner — Workplace up to 1000m2 Design — Pac Studio Jury comment — Somehow subtle yet striking at once, this fun project walks a delicate line to deliver a creative, energetic space that evolves as required to enhance the functionality of the workplace. The programme juxtaposes a seamlessly detailed white infinity space with the lively tones and surfaces of the office and support spaces. Where appropriate, the new interior interventions expose and celebrate the original fabric of the building, while small and considered moves, such as colour and lighting, create engaging individual spaces. The clarity, simplicity and restraint of this project, coupled with great rigour and efficiency in space-planning, make for a fantastic outcome. client — Common Space Studio commonspacestudio.co.nz design — Pac Studio pacstudio.nz design team — Aaron Paterson, Sarosh Mulla, Liz…

Winner — Residential Design — Evelyn McNamara Architects Jury comment — An exercise in reductionism and crafted details, this beautiful home uses clever materialism to exude warmth and depth with a delightful connection to the natural environment. Displaying great restraint in interior planning, material selection and detailing, the underlying concrete framework is complemented by a singularity of timber surfaces and cabinetry, creating a sense of enclosure and comfort. External spaces are adeptly drawn into the interior by way of sliding and pivoting apertures, ensuring the house is both immersed in and at one with the landscape. client — Amy and Andrew Price design — Evelyn McNamara Architects ema-architects.com designer — Evelyn McNamara photography — Simon Devitt…

Winner — Emerging Design Professional Design practice — ahha Jury comment — A whirlwind of energy and creativity, Raphaela inspired us with her unwavering commitment to design excellence through a multifaceted lens. Part artist, environmental caretaker and pop-punk political force of nature, she is one of a new generation of activists with a firm conviction and belief in the power of design to drive change. Raphaela has translated her passion, and her sense of clarity and purpose into real-life applications, creating more-sustainable and inclusive projects, ranging from immersive public art installations to large-scale education projects. We look forward to following her work through the social enterprise ahha, as she and her team continue to shift and innovate the future of design through their mahi. designer — Raphaela Rose project involvement — Ngā…

Supported by Located at the mouth of the Whanganui River – the nation’s longest navigable waterway – Whanganui has long benefited from both the abundance of the coast and the commerce arising from its huge hinterland. The area is the ancestral home of Te Āti Haunui-a-Pāpārangi and Whanganui Māori tribes. Pūtiki Pā – a key site of occupation on what is now the approach to the city – remains the location of an established marae and remarkable Māori church. In 1840, Pūtiki began hosting a Church Missionary Society station. In the same year, the New Zealand Company began settling across the river from Pūtiki, its second settlement after Wellington. Disputes over land deals abounded – the Crown effectively repurchased the New Zealand Company’s block eight years later, acknowledging the deal’s…

It is hard to imagine Christchurch without the mid-to-late-20th-century work of Sir Miles Warren (1929–2022) and Maurice Mahoney (1929–2018). However, many of their buildings were demolished or at least threatened with demolition after the Canterbury earthquakes. The Christchurch Town Hall (1966–1972), celebrated for its architecture, its acoustics and the role it played in the life of the city, was one of those threatened. After lengthy deliberations, the City Council committed to its repair in 2015 and it reopened to much fanfare in 2019. The film Maurice and I explores Miles and Maurice’s 37-year partnership and the life and times of the Town Hall. It is a triumph. It has it all – drama, humour, heroes and villains, sadness and suspense – yes, suspense, even though the Town Hall’s outcome is…

Interior Spaces presented by When Claire Paterson and Amy Hendry’s clients wanted to “start afresh with their tired apartment”, no one foresaw that the planned refurbishment would become a wholesale refit to a stripped-back shell. But, as the designers delved deeper into the needs of the brief, the potential of the floor plan became more apparent. “The apartment needed to accommodate both our clients and their mother/mother-in-law in her own private space, so we were designing for how they would live in it, not for resale or current trends,” explains Paterson. The brief called for “warm, relaxed, calm and timeless materials and tones with a luxury feel, and to celebrate the 180-degree views to the city and harbour”. The transformational redesign has provided an enhanced connection to the sea and…

Every year is challenging. Firstly, we select our top three, sometimes four, interior projects by some of the industry’s best designers and architects for each category and then, following an in-depth presentation and question-and-answer session, we narrow those down to one winner per category. Often, our selected finalists have all scored within an inch of one another, and the final decision then seems an impossibility. This year, the standard was so high across all categories that the decision-making process went days past the allocated time frame – a true testimony to the quality of submissions. During the awards process, the jury is offered unique insights into the latest initiatives, typologies and thinking behind what we have identified as optimistic, sometimes transformational and, often, unconventional designs. We are privileged to enjoy…

Winner — Education Design — Sheppard & Rout Architects Jury comment — Set within a disused industrial enclosure, this highly innovative, adaptive re-use project challenges our perception of a typical education environment. Working within a constrained budget, the architects cleverly placed prefabricated pods to form a cluster of interiors within an interior. Teaching and admin pods are complemented with generous social spaces and sports courts, while the insertion of a jewel-like chapel, to serve as a place of reflection for both ākonga and hapori, is the taonga of the space. The interior feels surprisingly light, with a simple but fun and effective colour and material palette. This refreshing, unconventional design, potentially a world first, encourages us to explore design solutions beyond the obvious. client — Catholic Diocese of Christchurch Te Takiwā ō Pīhopa…

Winner — Hospitality Design — CTRL Space Jury comment — Delving deeply into our Pacific roots, this interior beautifully evokes a sense of calm and place through a re-imagining of colour, texture and materialism. The thoughtful design demonstrates a deep understanding of both the personal and the cultural narrative, through research and making, with spatial features and crafted design elements that speak to the essence of Samoa, fishing and the moana in a new way. Given the constraints of the existing space and the necessary retention of portions of the original fitout, the quality of the outcome is exemplary. Both the big idea and its finer details have received appropriate consideration, with warm, natural fibres and timber tones layered against the cooler, almost underwater-like ceiling creating a unique, immersive experience. client — SkyCity…

Winner — Residential Kitchen Design — Rogan Nash Architects Jury comment — Influenced by a variety of design classics and colour-blocking, this humble yet refined kitchen channels a 1980s’ Euro-style vernacular, right out of the pages of Abitare, with a playful and creative use of pattern and tone. Rigorously planned and executed, with a considered and sophisticated colour and material palette, this kitchen brings the fun to the heart of the home. Right down to the skirting details, the designers have absolutely succeeded in turning everything up a notch, somehow achieving an impeccable balance between the ‘mismatched and the pleasing’. client — Kate Rogan design — Rogan Nash Architects rogannash.com design team — Kate Rogan, Eva Nash photography — Simon Wilson…

Winner — Community Impact Design — Dalgleish Architects Jury comment — Much has been achieved within this space, through simple design gestures that bring focus to the taonga. A soft colour palette representing the colour shift in the awa, from headwaters to moana, is teamed with a hand-drawn custom font. Careful consideration of how and where the taonga should be displayed contributes to telling the story of the awa in a powerful way. We were impressed by how many of the hapori were involved in this kaupapa, from conceptualising and funding to working with students at Palmerston North Teachers’ College to create the kōwhaiwhai patterns alongside Cliff Whiting. He Awa Ora – Living River is an extremely important kaupapa, educating people on the significance of the awa and helping to create kaitiaki of…

THE POLITICS OF SPACE continue to develop in both events and discussion globally, as elections draw closer and bombing of Palestine continues. The movement of protests on US and UK campuses against the genocide of Palestinians has foregrounded that space, and the ways in which it is regulated, testing the constituent parts and, by extension, the whole of those democratic institutions. These protests illustrate that space can be created in the imagination, inhabited with a different mandate and policed with opposing politics, and can produce a set of circumstances that are tense, unpredictable and violent. The architects of those campuses likely imagined those buildings and their green spaces alight with intellectual endeavour, thrusting humanity forward. By contrast, the protesting students and staff now inhabiting those halls and lawns feel the precarity…

2 November 1949 – 4 March 2024 Ian Dickson – known to all as Dickie – spent 50 years at Athfield Architects in Wellington, joining Ian Athfield only six months after he established the practice. Dickson was one of the first to be promoted to the role of company director, and both delivered and led numerous projects until his retirement in 2019. He is remembered with deep respect by those who worked with him, recognising his extraordinary knowledge and skill, his steadfast presence in the office and his calmness, even in turbulent times. His loyalty to Athfield was absolute. In turn, his work was critical to the success of the practice. Dickson was born in Edinburgh. He had his first five years in Leith before the family of four –…

Practice in Profile Supported by GEOGRAPHICALLY SPEAKING, AN ISTHMUS is a narrow strip of land, bordered on both sides by water and connecting two larger bodies of land. (Tāmaki Makaurau is an isthmus, a strategic and much-fought-over strip of land at the narrowest point of Aotearoa, dividing the Pacific Ocean and the Tasman Sea.) Other definitions of an isthmus are a connective tissue, or something small that is part of something larger. All these meanings resonated with Isthmus Group’s founders and their aspirations to bridge design, planning, science and art. With studio spaces in Tāmaki Makaurau, Te Whanganui-a-Tara and Ōtautahi, and a team of 90 designers drawn from architecture, landscape architecture and urban design, Isthmus is a dynamic, ever-evolving practice. We are united by the kaupapa of regenerating Aotearoa by…

Ana Heremaia Co-founder ĀKAU Ana Heremaia (Ngāpuhi) is an interior architect and cofounder of multidisciplinary, not-for-profit design studio ĀKAU. After working overseas for a number of years, Ana was drawn home to explore the ways in which design can be used to create impact in small communities in Te Taitokerau. She is passionate about engaging tamariki and whānau in the design process and finding innovative ways to create tangible outcomes in communities where funding for design projects is limited. Dorian Minty Principal Studio Pacific Architecture With a background in both fine arts and industrial design, Dorian Minty is a principal at Studio Pacific Architecture, which he joined in 2002 after working on The Lord of the Rings. Dorian has been the lead designer on a number of the studio’s interior…

Winner — Workplace over 1000m2 Design — Warren and Mahoney Jury comment — Representing the definition of co-design, this workplace creatively and unpretentiously weaves local kaupapa into the very fabric of the space, connecting its inhabitants with both the community and the whenua. In so doing, it provides considered, diverse and engaging working environments, with an inspiring focus on well-being and amenity, including dedicated mauri, wairua, hauora and whānau spaces. A central staircase forming a taurapa, adorned with aukaha pattern, is a visual landmark within the interior landscape. The stair is a striking piece of design that talks of the coming together of people: a place where kōrero and ideas might be exchanged. Concepts of tikanga coupled with the narratives of the mana whenua, woven so thoughtfully throughout the space, make this a…

Winner — Civic Design — Tennent Brown Architects Jury comment — Te Whare Hononga embodies its name – a place for union and connection – by bringing people together through both its design and its intended purpose: a place to hear and share stories as part of a process of healing and learning. Bold design decisions emphasise the meeting of two peoples, visible through the exposed aho or threads binding the whare together. The dynamic, non-orthogonal interior carefully layers and integrates the mahi toi, its structure reflecting the weaving of a kete that holds precious taonga. In this important project, inspired by the creative translation of narratives into space-planning, texture and materiality, the design team has created a seminal contemplative space for Ngāti Te Whiti and the hapori. client — Taranaki Anglican…

Winner — Healthcare and Wellness Design — RCG Jury comment — A 30-year relationship between the designer and the client has resulted in an incredible kaupapa that beautifully integrates the stories of Ngāti Whakaue. The combination of texture, pattern, spatial qualities and lighting creates a rich sensory experience for manuhiri, allowing them to feel the geothermal properties of the whenua in the various interior spaces. The theme of water and fire has been artfully translated into the striking, sensual palette throughout the spa experience. Wai Ariki is a taonga and the designers have done a magnificent job supporting both their client and Ngāti Whakaue through their design haerenga. client — Pukeroa Oruawhata Lakefront Holdings design — RCG rcg.co.nz design team — John Lenihan, John Long, Alex Liang, Philip Holden photography — Jono…