Six of nine awards go to Bay designers

Pondering the "rituals of domestic living" earned Tauranga architectural designer Brendon Gordon national honours at a black-tie dinner last night.

The Bay of Plenty dominated this year's Architectural Designers Resene National Design Awards, taking six of the nine categories.

Mr Gordon struck gold twice - for the Residential New Home over 250sq m Award sponsored by James Hardie, and the Residential Alteration and Additions Award. His winning new home, designed for his artist brother Miles, was described by the judges as a home of apparent simplicity that concealed deep and sensitive thought about the rituals of domestic living. Striking results had been achieved by a simple lean-to structure of precast concrete panels, vertical shiplap cedar and glass.

Mr Gordon's other winning entry was the Reid residence, which linked two 1980s townhouses on a prime Marine Parade site. The judges said that despite the complexities of the situation, the work was well integrated and displayed some engaging and attractive spaces, especially in the way the building presented itself to the street.

He was also a finalist for the Colour in Design Award for his brother's house and Wildhaven. The last time Mr Gordon had similar national success was in 2009 when he won three categories and collected the supreme award.

The star of last night's dinner in Napier and winner of the Resene Supreme Award was Rotorua's Darryl Church for his work on the Wood Processing Workshop at the Waipa campus of the Waiariki Institute of Technology. Mr Church took out the Commercial/Industrial Design award sponsored by Colorsteel, the Commercial Interior Design Award and the Resene Colour In Design Award.

"There was little doubt that this design and its talented architect were out to illustrate just what innovative and excellent architectural design was all about," the judges said.

They praised its sustainability features and how the "unashamed use of timber" reflected a great consistency of purpose. "It is unusual for a workshop to achieve such elegance and sensitivity to material."

Other Bay designers to reach the national finals were Will Tatton's Urban Ridge (residential new home up to 250sq m), Ron Penn's Tay Street (residential alterations and additions) and Maurice Regeer's MnM Home Office (colour in design).

The other national award winners were Sue Jackson (residential new home up to 250sq m), Murray Bennett (residential multi-unit dwelling) and Mark McLeay (residential interiors).