Eat Streat and Waiariki scoop top architecture awards

Rotorua's top dining destination and Waiariki's new health and science building have scooped the top awards in their catagories at the Waikato/Bay of Plenty Architecture Awards.

The winners of the 2016 Waikato/Bay of Plenty Architecture Awards were announced at an awards ceremony at the University of Waikato tonight.

The education award went to a combined effort by Rotorua's Darryl Church Architecture and Hamilton's MOAA Architects for their work on the Waiariki Institute of Technology health and science building.

Rotorua's APR Architects won the public architecture for its work on Eat Streat.

According to nominations, the Waiariki building "is composed of bold gestures in colour and scale. The radiant green of the exterior sun-screening also infuses the interior, where it is blended with consummate skill through layers of warm timber textures and cleverly patterned surfaces.

The building's playful exploration of detail is evident at every level. It is a perfect expression of the joy of learning."

The Eat Streat nomination was a "rare example of an urban intervention that provides the community with new and laudable street amenities", the nomination said.

"A robustly designed canopy comprised of heavy timber frames extends the street length to provide covered outdoor eating areas to the range of restaurants and bars. This 'framed' environment, and the relaxed feeling it creates, has proven a magnet for Rotorua's citizens and visitors alike."

Awards jury convener Geoff Lentz said the Eat Streat project was an important example of urban intervention that "saw a streetscape pedestrianised and transformed into a vibrant
restaurant and social environment".

"A project such as this shows the capacity of architects, working with visionary clients, to remedy, repair and inject new life into our cities and towns," Mr Lentz said.

The awards were won by 23 projects across six categories. New houses, traditionally a very strong category in the Waikato and Bay of Plenty, won the most awards. Ten houses, many of which are clustered around popular holiday destinations or rural locations in the Coromandel Peninsula and Lake Taupo, were acknowledged for their high quality design.

"If there was an overall theme to this year's winning works, it is that each project - whether house, tertiary education facility or reinvented inner-city office - shows the type of outcome that can be achieved by client with vision and a highly skilled architect," Mr Lentz said.