Te ao Māori themes are strong in some of the 17 New Zealand building projects short-listed for the 2024 World Architecture Festival awards.
Winning one of the awards is a pinnacle of achievement for an architect, the awards aiming to find and celebrate the best newly completed buildings and landscapes globally.
Britain’s The Guardian featured one Waikato building - The Chodge - this week.
From Pt Chevalier’s much-praised coloured glass marae building honouring Kupe to plans for Auckland’s downtown stadium and the completed Rotorua hot pools tourist attraction, the rise of buildings which could only be from Aotearoa architects has never been more clearly displayed.
Buildings in Auckland, Hamilton, Rotorua, the Waikato, Christchurch, Greymouth and Queenstown are in the running for a global prize.
All up, around 800 entries from more than 350 architectural practices are up for prizes to be announced at Singapore’s Marina Bay Sands in November.
Completed buildings as well as planned projects are short-listed.
Andrew Patterson of Parnell’s Patterson Associates won a 2023 World Architecture Festival award for Ravenscar House Museum in central Christchurch. That building took a culture category prize. Ravenscar opened in November 2021 and beat 15 other short-listed cultural buildings from around the world.
The names of the architectural practices who designed the 17 short-listed projects are listed below.
Te Taumata o Kupe Nuku, Pt Chevalier
Te Kāhui Whaihanga New Zealand Institute of Architects Awards gave this building on a marae an Auckland regional architecture award in January.
The “heroic” new education hub was then described as a remarkable building, decades in the planning. TOA Architects won a public architecture award, the judges calling the building heroic in ambition, reach and execution.
“It is a remarkable result following decades of work and commitment from numerous people and speaks to the determination and perseverance of the Te Mahurehure community,” they said.
The Chodge
Architect Darryl Church, managing director of DCA Architects of Transformation, said his holiday home in south Waikato was shortlisted.
The building is called by this unusual name because people initially called it a church, then a lodge. Then they combined those two words: “Some smart Alecs in our office!”
Church was delighted to have his project short-listed: “You enter these awards with a glimmer of hope.”
The 300sq m residence cost $2 million and was for client Whakamaru Retreat, completed this year.
He has won an NZIA regional award already, the citation referring to the house as a beacon of white reinforced polycarbonate fibreglass on an elevated site visible from the state highway.
“An interpretation of Nigel Cook’s work from the 1980s and early 90s, it is reminiscent of a woolshed, opening up to the landscape through translucent fire-station doors and a veranda. Within the outer shell is an extruded timber living container designed to Passive Haus principles, cave-like and in stark contrast to the external structure.
“Essentially a house within a house. The interior joinery, furnishing and palette are well-considered and contemporary, with the warmth of waxed-oak veneer creating a relaxed, sophisticated aesthetic. The result is an architectural delight, a triumph of technology, simplicity and pushing the envelope on planning and building rules,” the citation said.
Wai Ariki Hot Springs and Spa
The Pukeroa Oruawhata Group development on Rotorua’s lakefront is shortlisted for a hotel and leisure projects award.
This project has already won numerous design awards since it opened in June last year after a $52 million government investment.
Pukeroa Lakefront Holding chairman David Tapsell said this week being shortlisted was already a win for everyone involved, including PLHL, the Wai Ariki team, spa manager Belgravia, designer RCG, Ngāti Whakaue and the Rotorua community.
“Wai Ariki lives and breathes through an innovative, authentic design that’s specific to our rohe, envisioned by the minds of Ngāti Whakaue mana whenua and delivered by Kiwi architects. This latest recognition places it on a pedestal in front of the world,” Tapsell said.
The Pā by Architectus, Jasmax and DesignTRIBE in association
This is a University of Waikato building.
“The Pā is an innovative and versatile facility designed to transform the on-campus experience for the university and its community. Located on a prominent ridge, The Pā provides a welcoming new main entrance and multi-purpose facility for the Hamilton campus that reflects the university’s unique character,” the architects say.
Organised along the primary east-west pedestrian axis through the campus the building brings together four key projects under one roof structure; the wharenui to the east, a wing for the university executive leadership team to the south, a central student hub, and the Faculty of Māori and Indigenous Studies Building within a refurbished 1960s space on the western edge, they said.
Future project: HKS in collaboration with Buchan, TOA Architects and Boffa Miskell
This planned stadium and wider precinct at Te Toangaroa (Quay Park) in Auckland has been short-listed.
This image shows the wider precinct. A global consortium worked on designs for the proposed downtown stadium and urban neighbourhood precinct.
A 50,000 seat stadium, hotels and bars with restaurants, offices, apartments and other uses are pictured in plans.
Precinct Properties’ offices by Warren and Mahoney
Skilful use of red tiled floors and floor level changes define this stylish retro result.
A sunken lounge area that presents a comfortable relaxed mood and a nod to the 60s. Meeting rooms stand against the western and northern core forming the showcase space, while dark grain timber, brass mesh, and heavy drapery create a level of privacy and functionality, the architects said.
Anne Gibson has been the Herald’s property editor for 24 years, written books and covered property extensively here and overseas.
Options are being investigated for the site, 'including demolition'.