Innholdsfortegnelse for November/December 2024 i Architecture NZ

“UNDER THE PREVIOUS GOVERNMENT, we were seeing fancy, architecturally designed, multi-storey classrooms that were great for the schools that were getting them but, actually, there were a whole lot of other schools that were missing out because we weren’t getting good value for money.” Minister of Education Erica Stanford’s “fancy” put-down of school architecture, at a press conference in early October, focused a lot of the blame for the country’s school building funding shortfall on the shoulders of architects. Her solution is to use standardised design and more offsite-manufactured classrooms from companies such as Niche Modular and Builtsmart. “There is a huge, yawning gulf between architecturally designed, bespoke buildings and offsite-manufactured builds and repeatable designs,” says Stanford, who wants to see “the end of these fancy, architecturally designed, expensive, bespoke…

Studio Pacific Architecture’s Wellington office has released its designs for four key projects which will reshape the New Zealand Parliament’s Western Precinct. Forming part of Parliamentary Service’s Future Accommodation Strategy (FAS), the projects are made up of three new buildings – one on Museum Street, one on Ballantrae Place and a service building – and the surrounding landscape redevelopment. Expected to be completed in 2027, the new spaces will offer flexible, resilient offices, improved public amenities and a renewed connection to the surrounding city. The six-storey, base-isolated, mass-timber Museum Street building, currently under construction behind Parliament House, will house more than 600 parliamentary staff. The design’s cultural narrative, first apparent on the external metal screen with vertical fins which wrap around most of the building, was developed in collaboration with…

In 2007, architect Carl Elefante wrote: “The greenest building is the one that is already built.” With this in mind, the brief for this year’s Model Citizens competition, hosted by Architecture NZ and ArchitectureNow, was: “The application to remove Wellington’s iconic Gordon Wilson Flats (1959) from the Heritage Schedule was, according to some, paving the way for sledgehammers, wrecking balls and climate change issues. We ask you to use your making materials to re-imagine.” Armed with Resene pails, which teams had filled with recycled materials from their studios during the run-up to the event, the groups were encouraged by the jury to be radical and brave in their thinking. Woods Bagot created a sculptural korowaiclad façade from paper bags, with its kinetic design generating energy and a vast central atrium…

IN 1925, THE KING’S COLLEGE OLD BOYS’ Memorial Chapel was completed in South Auckland’s Ōtāhuhu on 42 acres of whenua overlooked by Māngere Mountain. The school had relocated there three years previously from Remuera, where it was established in 1896. The architect of this late-Gothicstyle brick building, with stained-glass windows set in stone tracery, was Richard Atkinson Abbott (1883–1954), himself a College ‘old boy’. The chapel was a significant building in Abbott’s master plan of redbrick structures, each having its distinctive character and proportioning while adhering to ‘Collegiate Gothic’, a subgenre of Gothic Revival architecture that was popular in Britain and the United States for its associations with Oxford and Cambridge Universities. A century later, Andrew Patterson, another King’s ‘old boy’, with his team at Patterson Associates, has completed a…

PROJECT DESCRIPTION Located at the foot of Queen Street, where the historic ‘mercantile axis’ meets the emergent ‘waterfront axis’, it is a pivotal site that connects Auckland’s sense of self as a waterfront city with its history as a place of trade and connection between cultures. The Deloitte Centre expands on this sense of permeability, fully integrating within the laneway network at lower levels, inviting the public into what was once an exclusive and excluding office building. THE INTENTION FOR THE PROJECT WAS TO DISSOLVE THRESHOLDS, BREAK DOWN THE SCALE, ENHANCE CONNECTIVITY AND CREATE A SEAMLESS EXTENSION OF THE URBAN EXPERIENCE.– WARREN AND MAHONEY ARCHITECTS…

Dunedin Railway Station tells a story of prosperity, ambition and optimism: a grand public building that anticipated the growth of Ōtepoti Dunedin and a country connected by a first-class rail system. Heritage buildings such as this are hugely expensive to preserve and maintain, and perhaps the greatest success of this project is involving local makers and preserving and developing building crafts such as stonemasonry, detailed metalwork and carpentry, which could otherwise disappear. It is clear that the work is a great source of local pride. This project is pragmatic in the best sense, balancing best-practice heritage principles with finely balanced judgement and sensitive prioritising. PROJECT TEAM Dr Phillip Hartley, Candida Rolla, Tracey Hartley…

PROJECT DESCRIPTION Organised along the primary east-west pedestrian axis through the campus, The Pā brings together four key projects under one roof structure: the wharenui to the east, the wing for the university executive leadership team to the south, the central student hub, and the Faculty of Māori and Indigenous Studies building within a refurbished 1960s’ space on the western edge. A design concept of manākitanga was central to this project and is expressed throughout the project’s organisation and design. INSIDE THE PĀ, A RANGE OF SPACES AND AMENITIES, COUPLED WITH THE FLEXIBILITY TO HOST A WIDE RANGE OF ACTIVITIES AT VARIOUS SCALES, RESPONDS TO THE UNIVERSITY’S DESIRE TO CREATE A ‘STICKY’ CAMPUS.– ARCHITECTUS, JASMAX AND DESIGNTRIBE…

In the late 1980s, Richard Toy’s proposal to shift Benjamin Mountfort’s timber St Mary’s Church across Parnell Road and create a soaring new nave to abut the enclosed brick chancel was not without controversy. Toy’s original scheme had a bell tower and buildings along Parnell Road… None of that was built, however, allowing the new Holy Trinity Cathedral’s heroic timber foldedplate roof to soar clear on the top of Parnell Rise, with its welcoming gesture back to the city. Inside, the big roof appears to float free as low, enclosing walls are mainly glazed. The sloping floor puts the focus on the altar, while the volume of the nave is flooded with light and colour from magnificent stained-glass windows… This publicspirited building encapsulates so much of what is wonderful about…

PROJECT DESCRIPTION The design strategy prioritised reusing as much as feasibly possible of the existing structure of the laboratory building while adapting its interior to accommodate modern residential needs. Overall, the Hills Residences project exemplifies a thoughtful approach to adaptive re-use, merging architectural innovation with urban densification principles to create a vibrant residential community that aligns with the client’s vision for high-quality apartment living in a riverside setting. THE CLIENT’S AMBITIONS WERE TO DELIVER HIGH-QUALITY RESIDENTIAL APARTMENTS, PROMOTING DENSIFIED URBAN LIVING THAT HAD YET TO BE SEEN IN THE LOCAL MARKET.– EDWARDS WHITE ARCHITECTS…

The private house has become a contentious category in architecture as we grapple with issues of sustainability, density and housing security. In response, Roberts Gray has approached this building type with propositions that extend architectural thinking. There is evident speculation about how stubborn vernaculars might be challenged and a suggestion of fresh approaches to materiality, massing, privacy and transparency, and balance of built form to landscape. This meticulously detailed and experientially beautiful house reveals impressive technical ability and a finely wrought aesthetic judgement. Importantly, it also demonstrates architectural thinking in this young practice that could lead to a better urbanism. PROJECT TEAM Jimmy Gray, Elspeth Gray, Nick Roberts, Mel Pau, Kat Hebden…

Te Tihi confidently positions itself within the cultural and physical landscape of Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei. Extensive mana mapping has informed a highly effective collaboration with mana whenua, architect and the client’s cultural strategy team He Rautaki Māori. Relaxed but agile planning, a natural palette with warm timber textures and abundant planting all contribute to a sense of sanctuary within a bustling workspace. The deconstructed waka taurapa (waka stern) central stair, adorned with aukaha waka binding pattern, references the engineering focus of this workplace and asserts the architecture’s aspiration to facilitate and navigate the convergence of relationships, community and place… an accomplished example of culturally responsive interior architecture. PROJECT TEAM Andrew Tu’inukuafe, Gier Jong, Arron O’Hagan, Whare Timu…

This delightful transformation of a small community church shows what can be done with big imagination and a collaborative spirit. St Hilda’s was built in 1910 as a timber structure with an aspirational brick front to the street. When faced with earthquake-strengthening the brick façade, the congregation and First Light Studio undertook the brave move to demolish it and extend and open the church to the street with a glazed, laminated-timber arched bay window. St Hilda’s feels utterly contemporary and welcoming by day and night, thanks to a beautifully designed, folded, patterned metal screen that modulates privacy and light with a magical effect inside and out. PROJECT TEAM Bronwyn Phillipps, Ben Jagersma, Guy Marriage…

13 July – 22 September 2024 Adam Art Gallery, Wellington Two shows in Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery ask us to consider relationships between things – between our built environment and lived experience, works of art and architecture, works and gallery. The two are: The buildings notice me, curated by Sophie Thorn, and Duncan Winder: architectural photographs, curated by Sebastian Clarke. The Adam, if you don’t know, is a convoluted set of gallery spaces tumbling down an old stairway; the spaces making complex connections with one another and their university surroundings. The work in these two shows takes advantage of this multiplicity of orientation and spatial imbrication. At the top, Roy Cowan’s vertical stoneware ‘Untitled architectural form’ (1975) faces the university courtyard, restating its origins as an artwork in…

SIR HAROLD MARSHALL DIED a few months back and was farewelled in his beloved Mount Albert Methodist Church. It is a congregation of which Sir Harold had been a member for most of his life and, as you might expect, his funeral was a poignant farewell from family, friends and members of the church. A constant theme in their addresses was the remarkable breadth of his interests. He was variously described as a poet, an architect, a watercolourist, a sailor, a horticulturist, a mystic and, of course, an acoustician. We are most familiar with him as an acoustician, not the least from the recent release of Rick Harvie and Jane Mahoney’s documentary Maurice and I. The film features Sir Harold slowly climbing the stair to the upper level of the recently…

The New Zealand International Convention Centre, designed by Warren and Mahoney in association with Moller Architects and Woods Bagot, features collaborations with leading local artists Sara Hughes and Peata Larkin in contrasting glass and ceramic works over a built canvas of approximately 5760m2. Hughes’ glass artworks represent elements of the New Zealand landscape, while Larkin’s piece reinterprets the traditional intricacies of the Māori craft of tukutuku. “Together,” says project director John Coop, “these artworks give visitors a unique insight into both the people and the places that make up the Aotearoa New Zealand experience.” Hughes’ installation comprises 98 glass fins adorning the western and eastern exterior (pictured below) and a glass artwork of 300 panels, which wraps around the top level of the structure’s southern and northern elevations. Using 60…

Few of us knew who Rossano Fan was; personally, out of all the golden-age Asian architects of Aotearoa, I had only ever heard of Ron Sang. When I began my journey with Asia Kiwi Architects, a colleague, Norman Wei, suggested I look into a YouTube video about a renowned Asian Kiwi architect from the ’60s and ’70s. The video, The Artist and Architect, from the early 2000s’ New Zealand On Air series Asia Downunder, offered a glimpse of his architecture and local recognition. Through this pixelated, five-minute video, I fell down a rabbit hole. Who was Rossano Fan? Why was there so little written about him beyond a few obituaries and real estate listings? There was no mention of him by the NZIA or Architecture NZ, despite having a TV…

EVERYTHING GETS DESIGNED. WHAT VARIES is the level of effort and ambition that is brought to the enterprise. Scanning the built environment and looking back over time, we can see the contours of this effort and ambition changing. Some things are on the rise. The expansion of urban design as a discipline has seen the normalisation of public spaces that explicitly and abundantly provide for social activity, cultural connection and the natural world. On the other hand, sections of the built environment seem to be dropping out of consideration as worthy of ambitious design. There was a time when the profession took seriously even the most mundane building types. For decades, the NZIA had a category of national award sitting between the Gold Medal for public buildings and the Bronze…

These elegant red sheds sit together comfortably in the rural landscape yet are anything but agricultural in their sophistication. Tuhiraki fosters synergy with Te Whare Wānaka o Aoraki Lincoln University and the broader Canterbury region, while embracing the mana whenua narratives. Tuhiraki shifts the dial for a workplace, showing us a path to a light, bright and sustainable collaborative future, focused on wellbeing. Meticulously rational planning contributes to a sense of effortless wayfinding and the building’s inhabitants are treated to glare-free views and daylight in all directions. The buildings are naturally ventilated, and the efficient use of locally sourced materials and mass timber delivers a 78 per cent reduction in carbon footprint, compared to traditionally built structures. PROJECT TEAM Architectus Carsten Auer, Patrick Clifford, Charlotte Hoare, Monique Mackenzie, Jane Rooney,…

This project is an amplification: a seismic change literally as well as materially. A deep investigation into Aotearoa’s built heritage and construction science, [it] reminds us of who we have been and gives us context for who we will be. Where heritage can be considered the process of fortifying our narratives, Mīmīrū reminds us that there is no distinction between engineering and architecture in Māoritanga. Providing us with a new possibility for widespan carbon-neutral structural frames that we desperately need, Mīmīrū lights another path to environmentally respectful building, powerfully bringing ancestral mātauranga (traditional knowledge) into the present. PROJECT TEAM Prof. Anthony Hōete, Dr Jeremy Treadwell, Prof. Jason Ingham, Dante Bonica, Olga Filippova, Denice Belsten, Naomi Felicia, James Corles, Oscar Botha, Sonny Vercoe Ngāti Ira o Waioweka Roger Rakuraku, Riki Kurei,…

A living building, Pā Reo speaks beautifully of collaboration between client and architect. The whare live and breathe Māoritanga – hīkoia te kōrero (walk the talk). With no need for applied cultural narrative, Pā Reo expresses kaitiakitanga in an elegant, functional, quiet way. Crisply put together, the technical skill and exhaustive research bring the vision of a committed client group to an outcome that can be a kāpehu whetū (star compass) for us all as we wrestle to bring architecture and building into line with respect for Papatūānuku. It is heartening to experience a warm, comfortable, open building that feels good to be in and restores ecological wellness to its immediate environment. PROJECT TEAM Ewan Brown, Hugh Tennent, Devo Staples, Yiwen Seow, Maurice Pipson, Caitlyn Lee, Julie Cook, Sarah Dee,…

The new visitor centre in Khumjung Village is a unique cultural project and international collaboration that celebrates the relationship between the Sherpa First Nations’ people and the Himalayan Trust, established 70 years ago by Sir Edmund Hillary. A small aluminium school hut was rebuilt, and its interior is now a richly decorated and informative display. The colourful, multilayered experience produced by Rick Pearson and his team, and the local Sherpa community, craftspeople and artists, is visually engaging for visitors and locals alike. This award also applauds the sheer effort, tenacity and logistical skills required to realise the project. The commitment and passion to overcome numerous hurdles in creating the centre shine through. PROJECT TEAM Rick Pearson, Sarah Hillary, Mingma Norbu…

The provision of density in affordable housing is a pressing concern in Aotearoa New Zealand and globally. In this challenging environment, Crosson Architects applies first-principles thinking and creativity to make incremental changes that are more than the sum of their parts. Working with a motivated client, Kōtuitui Terraces takes a long term view and imagines better urbanism with thoughtful design, an informed understanding of the positive role of plants and trees, and sophisticated architecture that is approachable, dignified, durable and meticulously parsed to deliver an uncommon refinement. Projects like this are important because they shift the needle. With the housing-development industry characterised by a thoughtless herd mentality, this project provides positive leadership and quality benchmarks. PROJECT TEAM Jerome Buckwell, Corbett Madden…

A project rising from destruction, Ravenscar is the generous gifting by Jim and Susan Wakefield of their art and artefact collection to the people of Ōtautahi Christchurch. Following … the earthquakes, the couple decided not to rebuild on the site [of their demolished home] but to commission a new house/museum in the central city. Granite from their former home, stone donated from the neighbouring Arts Centre and rubble from other cherished buildings have been incorporated into the pre-cast panels of this building. Ravenscar is a beautifully detailed assembly of four pavilions around a central impluvium… With a sense of intrigue in its fortified containment, internal worlds and glazed links open to the surrounding garden… PROJECT TEAM Andrew Patterson, Andrew Mitchell, Alastair Storrie, Tom Dobinson, Sacha Milojevic, Gary Peters, Rachel Berry…

This project articulately connects a section of Kirikiriroa Hamilton’s Victoria Street through an existing building to the Waikato Te Awa (Waikato River) waterfront. The architecture draws people through the established shopfront by way of clever use of large-scale mesh and text, which serve as a wayfinding language across a complex site and highlight the urban fabric. The architects have focused attention on existing positive spatial experiences, while adding warmth and texture in the fit-out. It was a bold move to keep outdated aesthetic aspects, but the architects have taken this in hand – successfully making full use of the existing building fabric, with new elements of smoke-and-mirrors creativity bringing a social place to life. PROJECT TEAM Nicola Liew, William Lawson, Sam Hastings, Caleb Pribicevich, Jeremy Cleland…

PROJECT DESCRIPTION This would be a place where people could recite and receive mātauranga Māori, particularly that associated with Kupe, the legendary Polynesian navigator and explorer acknowledged by some iwi as the discoverer of Aotearoa… The building’s sweeping, organic form embodies the dynamism of Kupe’s waka as it sailed towards Aotearoa. The glazing is like a sail, with the reflection of the shifting sun and clouds making the building appear to move like a waka across the ocean. THE DIAGONAL BLACK WIND BRACE ON THE FRONT FAÇADE FOLLOWS THE FORM OF STAYS USED ON MĀORI SAILS, AND THE GLASS’ INWARD TILT AND ANGLES ON THE RED BARGE SUGGEST THE MOVEMENT OF SAILS AND RUDDERS. —TOA ARCHITECTS…

ADJACENT TO A CENTRAL CITY STREET IN Ngāmotu dwells Te Whare Hononga, The House that Binds, alongside Te Manu Hononga, Sir Paul Reeves Centre (the vicarage) and Taranaki Cathedral Church of St Mary, Mere Tapu. The oldest stone church in Aotearoa, the cathedral is a Category 1 historic place and, 170 years after its first service in 1846, had to be closed because of the need for earthquake strengthening and restoration. The three buildings are part of a comprehensive development of the cathedral site as a whole, together providing educational resources and learning experiences for the community. The history of the site is complex. The cathedral, cemetery and vicarage are all located below Pūkākā, Marsland Hill: land that was occupied by Te Atiawa from the 1430s and where Ngā Pōtiki-tauā…

A delightful composition of shadow, translucency and texture, this re-imagining of three connected sheds explores the pure atmospheric qualities possible in architecture. Beyond the folded, dappled entry is an art and media gallery relaying the kōrero (narratives) of Ngāti Kuri, who brought this project into being… Ascending the spiral stair, carved from a single kauri trunk in 1994 and inserted into the new building fabric, poetically brings manuhiri (guests) to a window to observe the carving workshop beyond – the connection is visceral. Frequently hosting busloads of tourists on their way up Te Tai Tokerau Northland, the bathroom facilities are a spatial work of art: testament to close collaboration between Glamuzina and multidisciplinary artists Haumi. PROJECT TEAM Dominic Glamuzina, Sam Aislabie, Rory Keegan, Josh Overend-Clarke…

… A highly effective collaboration between Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei, Waipapa Taumata Rau University of Auckland and multidisciplinary artists Haumi is evident in the integrated artwork that appears to prioritise dialogue with place in its acknowledgement of whenua, mana whenua, marae and fale. With exemplary execution of long-pondered master-plan moves, the project masterfully re-purposes a tough brutalist structure to transform the cultural precinct, reaching out to connect across and below Symonds Street into the academic heart of the university… B201 has received one of Aotearoa’s highest-ever Green Star ratings and its low-carbon design and adaptive re-use aspire to set new benchmarks for sustainable educational environments. PROJECT TEAM Chris Scott, Rebecca Irwin, Erinna Wong, Jeff Thompson, Massi Braghini, Christian Janzen, Jun Tsujimoto, Meiling Honson, Xi Shao, Danielle Koni, Jane Rickit, Ryan Simpson,…

Restrained and elegant, this clever response makes the best of a tight inner-city site. The gradual stepping of levels to maximise the entire site as living areas, the gradual reveal of views to Maungawhau (Mount Eden) and the episodic openings to the sides give this very controlled linear addition the feeling of breathing in and out. The sculptural use of roof lights and a crisp material palette create a calm oasis for family life. PROJECT TEAM Xuan McArthur Nguyen, Katrina Keshaw…

This collaborative project has produced an exemplary model of how to address quality living environments for communities and whenua. The original task for Te Āhuru Mōwai was to rebuild social housing units. However, by taking a broader and long-term view of understanding and engaging with the local people, places and ecologies, the team has leveraged an outcome that aims to heal the past and advance future well-being for the area. The Vision Framework documents an impressive process of listening, engaging and embracing complex social situations with compassion, data-gathering and case studies to develop key ideas and big moves. The result is a rich and exciting resource: a living document for future development. PROJECT TEAM James Pattullo, Iris Gramegna, Celia Goldsmith, Ivy Llanera, Fetu Ese…

This project is a curation of the bach experience into just enough – a thoughtfully wrought shelter from which to contemplate the glorious environment of Aotearoa New Zealand. Beach Hut celebrates being in our coastal landscape in a quiet, modest way. Architecturally tuned to weather forces, the sensible and well-proportioned shading elements and openings moderate and extend the domestic experience of the tiny spaces. Tucking in storage in delightful and sensible ways, this project is a model for living lightly (at least on holiday!). PROJECT TEAM Roy Tebbutt, Michael Holehouse…

Touring 48 buildings in 12 days is an exhilarating experience. Add to that travelling with excellent people, whose knowledge of architecture and conversation is enriching – it’s an epic gig. This year, the rōpū was made up of myself, Julie Stout (Mitchell Stout Dodd), Patrick Kennedy (Kennedy Nolan) and Ari Stevens (Athfield Architects). We travelled in a figure of eight around Aotearoa, taking in the experiential qualities of the shortlisted projects. We were able to see both into the buildings and into the efforts and intentions behind them. Reaching for the sublime in architecture relies on: a coordinated team; a client who is in on the architectural magic; and a building team that can follow that magic through. It became clear on our tour that, in every project where the…

TWENTY-ONE YEARS AFTER having been met with much scepticism about car spaces that move and turntables that rotate, a small, specialised Auckland company (headquartered in Nelson) has proven to be a game changer in the world of parking. Car Parking Solutions owner and founder Bob Haswell says the main reason architects and developers go down the path of designing mechanical parking and turntables into their projects is all about space – and that is something that has not changed in 21 years. “Without exception,” says Haswell, “with every project in the car parking space, the clients’ requirement has been that they simply want more car spaces to make their commercial project work from both a practical and financial point of view.” This also applies to smaller residential projects, where cars…