Luxury holiday homes in the Coromandel and Raglan, a Te Puke garden shed, and the former Putāruru Post Office are big architecture winners in the Waikato and Bay of Plenty.

So, too, is sustainability. In announcing the regional winners of Te Kāhui Whaihanga New Zealand Institute of Architects (NZIA) architecture awards on April 28, 2021, jury convenor Camden Cummings of Tauranga firm Cummings Studio Architects says it's encouraging to see many clients and architects working together to reduce the carbon footprint of builds.

'It's exciting to see some experimentation with new structural panel prefabrication ideas in efforts to design more efficient buildings,” says Cummings.

Sixteen projects were recognised across six categories, and an additional two Enduring Architecture Awards were presented.

Housing winners include a Hamilton family home by Mercer and Mercer Architects, described as having 'a bit of attitude”.

The judges citation said: 'A refined palette of materials balances industrial finishes with rhythmic timber, and showcases not only a material sophistication but a deft understanding of light and acoustics; it's a sensory masterclass.”

But not every winner is about sophistication. Waipapa, a farm shed-inspired home by Strachan Group Architects, on a riverbank at Whangapoua beach on the Coromandel Peninsula 'responds sympathetically to the landscape beyond”.

'Everything is considered, from exceptional detailing to spaces that are both functional and inviting; from multi-use bedrooms to an open-plan entertaining area. Outdoor rooms with screen actuators mimic the ritualistic aspects of camping while retaining access to the comforts of modern living.”

The judges also praised a hilltop home overlooking Whāingaroa Raglan Harbour, by Edwards White Architects. Raglan Rest was designed 'to both honour and contest the dramatic landscape it sits within”.

'Situated to provide shelter from the prevailing winds and to take advantage of the outlook over Raglan township, harbour and the Tasman Sea, the design response is a sheltering, low-slung, L-shape combined with generous internal spaces. The entrance cantilever and wide living area overhangs provide a sculptural sense of shelter in this ‘big landscape'.”

Winners in the Small Projects category include a DOC hut-inspired home by Make Architects, in the foothills of the Kaimai Range.

Designed on a budget for a young family of three, the Karangahake House's prefabricated floors, walls and roofs minimised building waste and were assembled on-site within four days.

Another Small Projects winner is a potting shed by Common Space that doubles as a washing line and a shelter for a farming family's ute.

'Within the pragmatic brief of a potting shed and car port, the architects have created unexpected moments of delight. This is a project that successfully finds elegance in the most fundamental form of shelter.”

One Enduring Architecture Award went to the former Putāruru Post Office building, designed by Beehive architect Fergus Sheppard in the 1960s, which was described by judges as a 'beacon of modernist architecture in New Zealand”.

'Inspired by the Palazetto dello Sport in Rome, this once civic building embodies a bold and innovative approach to architecture with its vaulted arches and radial floor plan. Already listed as an historic building in the South Waikato District Plan, this ode to modernism is a celebrated example of how architecture can create and shape public space and be treasured by a small regional community.”

The second Enduring Architects went to a 1987 earth-sheltered concrete house in Omori, on the shores of Lake Taupō, by Watt architects.

The architect's own holiday home, designed in accordance with ecological principles, is described as a 'snapshot and a reminder of a time when building was more experimental”.

Winners in the Commercial category include Scion Innovation Hub - Te Whare Nui o Tuteata at the edge of the redwood forest in Whakarewarewa Forest Park, Rotorua.

Designed by RTA Studio and Irving Smith Architects, the project also won a Resene Colour Award.

Full list of winners:

Housing

• Concrete Bungalow by Architecture Bureau, Mt Maunganui
• Vera House by Boon, Hamilton
• Raglan Rest by Edwards White Architects
• Hamilton Family Home by Mercer and Mercer Architects
• Waipapa by Strachan Group Architects, Whangapoua
• Hill to Horizon House by Studio Brick Architects and Lloyd Hartley Architects in association, Otama
• Pipi House by Studio2 Architects, Whangamata

Housing – Alterations & Additions

• Blackwood Lodge by Brendon Gordon Architects, Te Puna

Interior Architecture

• Jaggar House by Studio2 Architects, Mt Maunganui

Small Project Architecture

• Elegant Sheds by Common Space, Te Puke
• Metal Jacket House by Jigsaw Architects, Papamoa
• Somerset Studio by John Henderson Architecture, Bethlehem
• Karangahake House by Make Architects NZ

Commercial Architecture

• Urban HQ by Edwards White Architects, Hamilton CBD
• SCION Innovation Hub - Te Whare Nui o Tuteata by RTA Studio and Irving Smith Architects, Rotorua

Enduring Architecture

• Former Putāruru Post Office (1970) by Ministry of Works - Fergus Sheppard
• Omori House Earth Shelter (1987) by Watt Architects

Public Architecture

• Leith Place Redevelopment by DCA Architects of Transformation, Tokoroa

-Stuff/Colleen Hawkes.