An exclusive flyover of the second hole at Te Arai Links North Course, set to open in October. Video / Ricky Robinson
Some of Auckland’s best new homes won architecture awards tonight, including one set among dunes at the Te Arai golf course near Mangawhai, north of the city.
Architecture firm Monk Mackenzie won a Te Kāhui Whaihanga NZ Institute of Architects residential award for designing the new Palimpsest House near the sea.
Palimpsest house at Te Arai north of Auckland designed by Monk Mackenzie who on April 30, 2025 won an Auckland area award from Te Kahui Whaihanga New Zealand Institute of Architects. Photo / Monk Mackenzie
Neither the architects nor the institute said who owns the house.
Palimpsest House at Te Arai by Monk Mackenzie. Photo / Hamish Monk
“This single-storey private residence occupies the threshold between a stand of new-growth pines and an expansive dunescape.
The finished Palimpsest House near the sea at Te Arai north of Auckland, which won an NZIA Auckland area award on April 30, 2025. Photo / Monk Mackenzie
“In response to the open, windswept site, the building is conceived conceptually as a single monolithic stratum, pushed low to the ground and hovering just above the surface of the sands,” the architects say.
Architects Monk Mackenzie won an Auckland residential award for what they call Palimpsest House at Te Arai. Photo / Hamish Monk
Separately, the Herald reported in March how plans were approved for an entity linked to Rod Drury to build a partly-sunken home with a guesthouse, pool and surf shed among sand dunes at Te Arai.
Those designs are also by award-winning Monk Mackenzie.
Plans for the front entry of the consented house at Te Arai, as shown in the application to Auckland Council. A Rod Drury entity won consent for this new home.
NZIA awards tonight also went to Hobsonville Point’s new $150 million Catalina Bay apartments, the SeaLink Wynyard Ferry Terminal in the CBD and the interior of new hotel Horizon by SkyCity.
All up, 36 awards were announced.
Developer Willis Bond's managing director David McGuinness at the Catalina Bay apartments at Hobsonville Point. Photo / Jason Oxenham
Jury convenor Guy Tarrant said: “This year’s awards highlight the value architects bring to projects in response to constraints of site, size and budget”.
“These were all drivers for exceptional outcomes and a testament to the ability of architects to turn challenges into opportunities.”
Winning projects also highlighted architects’ continued commitment to exploring affordable housing solutions, featuring intelligent planning and innovative uses of new and sustainable materials, Tarrant said.
Pocket Houses by Dorrington Atcheson Architects won an Auckland area architectural award in April, 2025. Photo / Simon Wilson
He cited the Pocket Houses project by Dorrington Atcheson Architects. The architects had come up with a viable backyard housing model that challenged accepted norms of multi-unit housing design, he said.
The Catalina Bay Apartments were praised for using the protected view shaft of a nearby trig station as the catalyst for a fragmented, stepped form that elegantly engaged its waterfront setting.
Auckland's SeaLink Wynyard Ferry Terminal by Architectus won an Auckland area award.
Category award winners
Commercial
RTA Studio by RTA Studio and Jack McKinney Architects in association
Pukekohe High School Learning Block by DCA Architects of Transformation
AUT Tukutuku by Jasmax
Manutara — Murrays Bay Primary School by Warren and Mahoney Architects
Hiwa campus: University of Auckland Recreation and Wellness Centre by Warren and Mahoney Architects and MJMA Architecture & Design Toronto
The pool complex at Auckland University's new Hiwa Recreation Centre.
Heritage
St Mary’s Old Convent Chapel Restoration by Salmond Reed Architects
Grey Lynn Public Conveniences by Matthews & Matthews Architects
Grey Lynn toilets won an Auckland architecture award. Photo / Mark Smith
Housing
Onetangi Cliff House on Waiheke Island by Herbst Architects
Palimpsest House at Te Arai by Monk MacKenzie
Sand Boxes at Piha by Herbst Maxcey Metropolitan Architects
Palmers Beach House Aotea Great Barrier by Leuschke Group Architects
Kawau Island House by Novak+Middleton
Muriwai Farmhouse by Mercer and Mercer Architects
Sefton House by Ashton Mitchell
Prospect House by MAUD
Bush Block by Patchwork Architecture
Palmers Beach house, Aotea Great Barrier, won an Auckland architecture award. Photo / Chris Morton
Housing: alterations, additions
Light Catcher by Jose Gutierrez
Wainamu at Te Henga Bethells Beach by Bureaux
Lava Flow by Pac Studio
St Heliers House by Stevens Lawson Architects
19Q on Waiheke Island by SGA Strachan Group Architects
Alberon by Jack McKinney Architects
Additions and alterations to this Grey Lynn house won a 2025 Auckland architecture award. The project was called 'light catcher' by architect Jose Gutierrez. Photo / Sam Hartnett
Housing: multi-unit
Catalina Bay Apartments by Architectus
The private dining room at One Saint Stephens, new apartments beside the cathedral in Parnell.
Horizon by SkyCity by Warren and Mahoney Architects and Moller Architects
Deloitte Auckland by Fisher Partners and Custance Associates
Onyx Bar inside the new Horizon by SkyCity hotel in Auckland - part of Gordon Moller's art work Transcendance can be seen on the wall behind the bar. Photo / Michael Craig
Small project architecture
Washworld by Lloyd Hartley Architects
Karanga Changing Sheds by Pac Studio
So Fresh, So Clean by W3
The Point apartments, 121 Customs St West faces on to Auckland's waterfront. Photo / Sandra Mu, Getty Images
Enduring architecture
The Point (2000) apartments, Viaduct Harbour by Moller Architects.
The awards panel was Guy Tarrant, Andrea Bell from bell + co in Dunedin, Katrina Keshaw from Keshaw McArthur, Elspeth Gray from Roberts Gray Architects, and Jasper van der Lingen from Sheppard & Rout in Christchurch.
Anne Gibson has been the Herald‘s property editor for 25 years, written books and covered property extensively here and overseas.
