New Zealand architecture honoured in national awards

A new performing arts centre at Iona College, Havelock North, has won this year’s the top New Zealand architecture award.

The Blyth Performing Arts Centre was designed by Stevens Lawson Architects, which also won an architecture award for another building on the same campus.

28 projects won awards at the New Zealand Architecture Awards which saw the three best-of-category awards named for eminent New Zealand architects:

The John Scott Award for public architecture, won by the Christchurch Botanic Gardens Visitor Centre, designed by Patterson Associates;

The Sir Ian Athfield Award for housing, won by Lyttelton Studio Retreat, designed by Bull O’Sullivan Architecture; and the

Sir Miles Warren Award for commercial architecture, won by the Stranges and Glendenning Hill Building Replacement, designed by Sheppard & Rout Architects.

The jurors described the Blyth Performing Arts Centre, which also won an award in the education category as a “beautifully planned and executed building in which technical as well as architectural issues have been resolved masterfully.”

Christchurch Botanic Gardens Visitor Centre, the winner of the John Scott Award for Public Architecture, is, according to the jury “an exhilarating contemporary take on the traditional garden greenhouse and an adroit and sympathetic piece of place-making.

“The elegant form is an inspiring contribution to the public realm in Christchurch.

Another Christchurch project to win one of the new named awards was the Lyttelton Studio Retreat, which won the Sir Ian Athfield Award for housing. .

Completing the Christchurch clean sweep of named awards, the Stranges and Glendenning Hill Building replacement received the Sir Miles Warren Award for commercial architecture.

The education category was strong, especially at Iona College where, in addition to the Blyth Performing Arts Centre, the school’s information resource centre received an Architecture Award.

Commenting on this structure, the jury stated “this elegant building successfully facilitates a teaching transformation, and establishes a collegial relationship with the existing architecture of a century-old girls’ school.”

Avondale College was another winner in the education category as was the MIT Manukau & transport interchange by Warren and Mahoney Architects.

In the hospitality and retail category, Napier’s Monica Loves, designed by C Nott Architects, was described as “a lively little bar with an industrial chic aesthetic and relaxed ambience.”

The jury added that Monica Loves “is a clever bit of city-making that introduces laneway life to Napier.” 

Images: Exterior and interior of the Blyth Performing Arts Centre.

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