Old and new combine in Architecture Awards

Media release, embargoed until 7pm, Friday November 8

Old and new combine in 2013 Gisborne / Hawkes Bay Architecture Awards

Public buildings and private homes that look to the past in order to better shape the future were among the 14 winners in the New Zealand Institute of Architects’ 2013 Gisborne/Hawke’s Bay Architecture Awards, which were announced at Church Road Winery, Taradale, on Friday, November 8.

“There was an exciting breadth of entries into the Awards, ranging from small projects through to large public buildings,” said Napier architect Marie Fleming, the convenor of the Awards jury which also included architects Chris Wilson and Les Clapcott. “It was good to see architectural quality demonstrated across projects of every scale, materiality, budget and brief.”

Two Napier projects, the Farmers store and the new wing of the Hawkes Bay Museum Theatre Gallery (HBMTG), stood out for their innovative handling of a strong architectural heritage. In a city where the Art Deco movement is enthusiastically embraced, Fleming said it was pleasing to see two buildings that gave “a definite nod to history, without blindly following a style”, and that melded well into their streetscapes.

It was also pleasing to note that where a sensitive, pure restoration was called for, such as in the strengthening of Gisborne’s St Luke’s Church, the architects had remained true to the original without feeling the need to “stamp their own personality on the project,” Fleming said.

Several houses recognised by the jury were not new builds, but alterations and additions to much-loved family homes, and Fleming said that although only one house received an Award in the Sustainable Architecture category, a ‘green’ theme emerged in the Awards, with every home incorporating eco-conscious elements.

Fleming said that the residences awarded in the Housing category, sited in areas from Mahia to Waipukurau, indicated that architect-designed homes are becoming healthier and more energy efficient.

“Many parts of Gisborne and Hawke’s Bay experience high winds and temperatures, and the design of all buildings should take this into account,” Fleming said. “The planning in the houses we awarded is outstanding, and the architects had responded to site and weather conditions.”

“These aspects of design are increasingly important in the light of our changing climate.” Fleming said.

2013 Gisborne Hawke’s Bay Architecture Awards recipients
The cultural and architectural landscape of Hawke’s Bay has been enhanced through the re-development of, and an addition to, the region’s long-standing museum and art gallery, a building that features twice in the Awards.
Opus Architecture’s design of a new wing at the Hawkes Bay Museum Theatre Gallery (HBMTG) won an award in the Public Architecture category. It is, the jury said, a “self-assured and carefully detailed” contemporary expression of a classical design that hints at Napier’s Art Deco legacy.

The same firm also won an award in the Heritage category for the HBMTG Redevelopment Project. The jury said the architects were respectful of Louis Hay’s original design in this refurbishment of an early 1930s building, sensitively reinstating the Art Deco entry and the central circulation zone in manner that has allowed visitors to “rediscover the building’s ‘lost’ architectural style”.

The second winner in the Heritage category is an English country-style brick church damaged in Gisborne’s 2007 earthquake. Architects A4 undertook an unobtrusive strengthening process to retain the “charm and intimacy” of St Luke’s Church. Buttresses and foundations were replaced, a diaphragm ceiling installed, and repairs to the brickwork seamlessly achieved.

In keeping with the spiritual theme, Maryknoll Chapel in Taradale, is a new stand-alone building where retired priests can retreat to worship. Architecture HDT Hawkes Bay received an award in the Small Project Architecture category for an “honest and simple” design with a striking beehive-shaped form, and a “peaceful and calm interior”.

Three other projects received awards in the Small Project category – new public toilets in a well-used Hastings park and two refurbished baches.

Citrus Studio Architecture’s design of the Flaxmere Park Public Toilets balances pragmatic considerations with aesthetic appeal. The use of precast concrete for the structure discourages vandalism, and sculpted coloured grooves on the surface depicting harakeke leaves bring an artistic sensibility to this utilitarian design. In all, the jury said, the architects had created a “welcoming public space”.

Seaside living has become a reality for an Ahuriri family following Wilson Jack Architects’ transformation of a two-storey fibrolite bach into the Domney House. In reconfiguring a 20-year-old building constructed with “little thought to form and function”, the architects have created a permanent home that is light and comfortable and makes the most of its great location.

The third winner in the Small Project Architecture category is the King-Roberts House in Te Awanga. Atelier Workshop re-organised the layout of this compact but much-altered holiday retreat to provide “a thoroughly delightful, beach-appropriate” dwelling. This project also received the sole Award in the Sustainable Architecture category. The jury said Atelier Workshop had achieved “an energy-efficient result within a recycled dwelling, when demolition and rebuilding was a definite option”.

Paris Magdalinos Architects’ inclusive approach to the design of the new Farmers store in Napier was recognised with an award in the Commercial Architecture category. The architects incorporated elements of two existing heritage buildings while at the same time providing their clients with a productive trading environment. The department store, the jury said, successfully expresses ‘big box retail’, while retaining the “scale of the existing buildings and incorporating two historic façades”.

Portside Chambers in Ahuriri brought Architecture HDT Hawkes Bay its second award, this time for a commercial project – a two-storey office building that “responds to its industrial context with a simple and functional form,” that fits comfortably in what has become an exciting and lively precinct.
Private residences built on coastal sections, tucked into forested valleys, or found on the fringes of an industrial district all featured in the Awards’ Housing category.

Clarkson Architects created a home with two distinct entry levels in Irvine House, built in a residential area on the edge of an industrial zone in Waipukurau. The two-storey house allows the owners to live on the first floor and expand into the ground floor as visitors arrive. Concrete blocks and vertical boards anchor the home to site, and give form to “a well-planned, well-balanced, well-proportioned” dwelling.

On Napier’s West Shore, Gavin Cooper Architect organised Faulknor House, a contemporary home for a retired couple, around a sheltered internal courtyard. Coastal conditions, including strong prevailing winds, required a “carefully considered solution” which, the jury said, the architect had achieved by using “well-articulated spaces” and a hardy material palette.

Another home that shelters its occupants on an exposed site is Macintrye Holiday House in Mahia, designed by Godward Guthrie Architecture. Here, also, an internal courtyard offers a protected retreat in a “carefully detailed” house where the simple material palette “does not try to compete with its dramatic context.”

Views of Makarori Beach flood into the living areas of the OffSET House, a project that earned Irving Smith Jack Architects recognition in the Housing category. The jury said this holiday home responds well to the “needs of public and private life” and provides useable areas for the family on a steep, south-facing section.
When the owners
of the 1 DP House in Havelock North approached Bevin + Slessor Architects to craft a guest house, they requested that pre-cast concrete construction be incorporated in the design. The architects obliged with this simple-yet-strong form set into a tree-lined valley. It’s a place, the jury said, “that visitors will surely want to return to”.

All winners of the 2013 Gisborne/Hawke’s Bay Architecture Awards are eligible for consideration for the top tier of the annual Architecture Awards programme, the New Zealand Architecture Awards. These awards will be announced in May 2014.

The New Zealand Architecture Awards programme is supported by Resene and judged by juries appointed by the New Zealand Institute of Architects and its branches.

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