Tarawera High School. Photo/Patrick Reynolds
Taupo and Kawerau buildings have featured at the 2017 Waikato/Bay of Plenty Architecture Awards.
The Kinloch Club near Taupo designed by Patterson Associates was a winner in the hospitality and retail category, the Andrews family home in Taupo designed by Bull O'Sullivan Architecture was a winner in the housing category and Tarawera High School designed by RTA Studio was a winner in the education category.
Nineteen buildings won awards at the event held at the Tauranga Art Gallery on Friday. Awards convener and Hamilton-based architect Steven Chambers said the winning works in the peer-reviewed awards programme set a very high standard for architecture in the region.
He said despite the diversity of the 25 projects the jury visited, there was one thing the award-winners had in common.
"At each property we visited it was a delight to see the architects and their clients revelling in the fantastic environments they had created. It was a testimony to the positive relationships that were formed right at the very start of each project, when briefs were written and concepts were investigated.
"Good architecture, without a doubt, is the result of positive working relationships between those who commission a building and those who design it," he said.
Mr Chambers particularly admired the dedication and creativity shown by architects working to limited budgets.
"These projects showed that architects and clients were not going to allow budget constraints to compromise the architecture and the user experience, and as a result we saw the imaginative use of materials, clever arrangement of space and the provision of sympathetic work, study and living environments."
Mr Chambers was joined on the jury by Nelson architect Andrew Irving and experienced Waikato/Bay of Plenty architects Belinda Ellis and Jane Hill.
Tarawera High School was designed according to the Ministry of Education's new directives for Innovative Learning Environments.
"The school is an inspiring exemplar of architecture embedded in place and community," Mr Chambers said.
"It exceeds the potential limitations of budget to deliver uplifting and authentic innovative learning environments."
At Kinloch, the small town on the shores of Lake Taupo, the investment in quality architecture continues with The Kinloch Club, designed by Patterson Associates, a hospitality and retail award winner.
"This building reflects the design team's commitment to creating environments that are dramatic yet comfortable, lavish yet not ostentatious, and that yield spaces with a human quality and sense of welcome," Mr Chambers said.
Seven new houses and an alteration project continue the rich tradition of innovation in Waikato and Bay of Plenty domestic architecture. The winners include the Andrews family home in suburban Taupo.
In it, Bull O'Sullivan Architecture "pulls a complex 'fly roof' over a simply expressed plan arrangement and revels in the resulting spatial complexity", Mr Chambers said.
The Waikato/Bay of Plenty Architecture Awards are part of the New Zealand Architecture Awards programme run by the New Zealand Institute of Architects which has been sponsored by Resene since 1991.
Through the awards, the NZIA aims to show why good architecture matters in the ongoing development of New Zealand's cities, towns and communities.
Winning projects are eligible for shortlisting in the New Zealand Architecture Awards, which will be announced in November.
Full list of award winners by category:
Commercial Architecture
South Bloc, Hamilton, by Edwards White Architects
Cubro, Tauranga, by Wingate Architects
Education
Tarawera High School, Kawerau, by RTA Studio
New Law & Management Building, University of Waikato, Hamilton, by Opus Architecture
Enduring Architecture
Karewa Parade House, Papamoa, by David Page Architect (1972)
Miller House (1969), Hamilton, by Rod Smith Architect (Smith, Grant and Associates)
Hospitality and Retail
The Kinloch Club by Patterson Associates
Papamoa Plaza, Mount Maunganui, by Ignite Architects
Housing
Town House, Cambridge, by Christopher Beer Architect
Andrews family home, Taupo, by Bull O'Sullivan Architecture
The Splay House, Hamilton, by Edwards White Architects
Farquhar House, Whangapoua, by Alignworks
Sentinel House, Coromandel, by Crosson Architects
Paerata Ridge House, Waiotahe, by Architecture Page Henderson
Pauanui Bach by Leuschke Kahn Architects
Housing and alterations
Architect's Own, Hamilton, by Architecture Bureau
Interior Architecture
IT Partners Office Fitout, Hamilton, by Edwards White Architects
Planning and Urban Design
Embassy Park, Hamilton, by PAUA Architects
Public Architecture
St Johns Church, Hamilton East, by MOAA Architects