A minimalist Japanese inspired home and a refined bush lodge are just two of the award-winning designs recognised in July as winners of Waikato Regional ADNZ Resene Architectural Design Awards.
Every year, the awards celebrate innovative, sustainable and exceptionally designed projects from around New Zealand. Awarding designs in multiple categories, the awards recognise residential, commercial, alterations, interiors and multi-use projects designed by members of Architectural Designers New Zealand (ADNZ).
This year, nine awards were presented to four designers in the Waikato region. The winners were Kris Wilson of Design House Architecture Ltd, Tane Cox of Red Architecture, Noel Jessop of Noel Jessop Architecture and Adam Taylor of Adam Taylor ARCHITECTURE.
Kris Wilson was a major winner on the night, receiving three awards for two projects. His design, EUCALYPT-HAUS, won the Residential New Home between 150m2 and 300m2 Architectural Design Award and the Resene Colour in Design Award. A Hamilton renovation project also by Wilson titled ‘Test of Character’ received the Residential Alterations and Additions Architectural Design Award.
EUCALYPT-HAUS sits on an incredible Raglan site with a backdrop of eucalyptus trees and views of mountain ranges and sea. A relaxed and refined bush lodge, the design is intended to be elegantly brutal.
Judges said the home sits with assurance on its site, carefully arranging angles, volumes, and sightlines to choreograph domestic life. This is demonstrated from the welcoming frontage facing the approach up the long driveway, to the external room that almost projects residents out into the view.
Tane Cox of Red Architecture received two architectural design awards for Shibui House in Tamahere. The home received a Residential New Home over 300m2 Architectural Design Award and the Residential Interiors Architectural Design Award.
The brief for Shibui House was for a sophisticated, modern family home with generous space and volume. Despite having a large footprint, the spatial arrangement needed to facilitate intimate connections between the space and people. It also needed to create a sense of journey and enhance the experience of the client’s collection of artworks.
In response to this brief, the Japanese discipline of shibui was adopted for its celebration of complexity and restraint. The house has been stripped of adornment and presents a strong, minimal composition. A detached asymmetric timber-shingled ancillary building, a gravel garden and a long path create a minimalist, sculptural approach to the house. Inside the house, interiors have been treated with the same shibui principles.
Judges said the home tells a coherent story through the extraordinary commitment to its concept.
“The use of colour is subtle, with the delicate use of pinks and the rich warm timber central to the theme. This is a design that strongly reflects the way the clients want to live.”
Noel Jessop of Noel Jessop Architecture received the Commercial/Industrial Architectural Design Award for his work on the first free-standing Volvo car dealership in New Zealand called ‘Duncan & Ebbett – Volvo’.
The design of the building had to meet the international corporate identity of the Volvo brand, as well as creating a space that would seamlessly accommodate two other vehicle brands.
Judges praised Jessop for his pragmatic and functional design, saying it expressed the crisp, cool, precise qualities associated with the brand.
In addition to the commercial/industrial award, Noel Jessop also received a Highly Commended in the residential new home between 150m2 and 300m2 category for his work on Durham, and a Commended in the residential new home over 300m2 category for his work on a Hamilton project titled ‘Open Home’.
Adam Taylor of Adam Taylor ARCHITECTURE received a highly commended in the new home over 300m2 category for his design, Pauanui Vice. Sitting on a wide elbow site at the extreme edge of Pauanui waterways in the Coromandel, the home is a refined executive residence with incredible views of canals, harbour and ranges beyond.
Architectural Designers New Zealand CEO Gregory Watts said Waikato designers were pushing boundaries and reaping the rewards.
“In the new home over 300sqm category, three Waikato designers received recognition. This is highly unusual but demonstrates the talent and innovation in the region. From Japanese inspired minimalist design, to car dealerships and elegant homes of distinction, the Waikato has wowed us all,” says Watts.
Regional ADNZ Resene Architectural Design Awards are being held across the country in the leadup to the national awards. National award winners and the Supreme Award winner will be announced on Friday 18 October 2019 at a gala awards ceremony in Queenstown.
