Iron­bank wins Archi­tec­ture Medal

Iron­bank, the new steel-clad com­mer­cial build­ing on Auckland’s K’ Road, has received the 2010 New Zea­l­and Insti­tute of Archi­tects’ award for the year’s best build­ing. The mixed-use build­ing, designed by RTA Stu­dio for Sam­son Cor­por­a­tion, beat out some strong com­pet­i­tion, in par­tic­u­lar from Jasmax’s NZI Build­ing on Fan­shawe Steet, Auck­land. Four­teen other pro­jects were also acknow­ledged at the NZIA’s annual awards din­ner, held in Auck­land on 14 May.

Cita­tions and image gal­ler­ies of all win­ning pro­jects fol­low.Iron­bank, Auck­land by RTA Studio.

New Zea­l­and Archi­tec­ture Medal: Iron­bank rep­res­ents a rare syn­thesis of ori­gin­al­ity, visual impact, func­tion­al­ity and eco­lo­gical sens­it­iv­ity. Its towers of stacked boxes have a rest­less, sculp­tural qual­ity, and the raw, mus­cu­lar mater­i­als har­mon­ise per­fectly with the inner city con­text. The vari­ous occu­pan­cies are each afforded a meas­ure of insu­lar­ity, yet the open cir­cu­la­tion encour­ages a healthy level of inter­ac­tion. A strong sus­tain­ab­il­ity ethos has driven the pro­ject, begin­ning with the recyc­ling of ninety per­cent of the site’s exist­ing build­ings. It is also mani­fest in the use of nat­ural vent­il­a­tion and nat­ural light, and the clev­erly con­ceived, space sav­ing car­park. The build­ing is a rich, ground­break­ing and thrill­ing tour de force.

Com­mer­cial Archi­tec­ture Award: This highly ori­ginal build­ing breaks the mould, in sev­eral ways. Its cluster of five towers of stacked boxes provides the eye with a dra­matic, sculp­tural form that twists, slips and shifts. The towers are arranged around an urban court­yard link­ing two streets, cre­at­ing a com­munity of occu­pan­cies. All are able to express their own iden­tit­ies while the open cir­cu­la­tion forms a pan­op­tic centre of energy that encour­ages social inter­ac­tion. The use of raw, robust mater­i­als sits well with the grit of Karanga­hape Road, while the space sav­ing car park adds another level of innovation.

Sus­tain­able Archi­tec­ture Award:
Eco­lo­gical sens­it­iv­ity has driven this pro­ject from the begin­ning, with the recyc­ling of ninety per­cent of the exist­ing build­ings on site. All spaces are nat­ur­ally vent­il­ated and exposed to nat­ural light, with indi­vidu­als able to con­trol their own envir­on­ments. The car stack­ing solu­tion is clever: the mater­i­als required for con­struc­tion were min­imal, no air hand­ling is required in park­ing areas, nor is any light­ing needed.

NZI Centre, Auck­land by Jasmax.

Com­mer­cial Archi­tec­ture Award: New stand­ards for office space in New Zea­l­and have been set by this eleg­ant build­ing, which marks the suc­cess­ful exe­cu­tion of an ambi­tious and com­plex pro­ject. Using an inter­est­ing, vis­ible corner site to full advant­age, it emphas­ises qual­ity over bulk floor space, cre­at­ing a sense of unity among the dis­par­ate parts of a large organ­isa­tion. A gen­er­ous and dynamic atrium space allows ground level pub­lic access through the build­ing. It is a place enjoyed by all who work in it.

Interior Archi­tec­ture Award: An excit­ing con­cep­tion has been care­fully seen through to cre­ate a stim­u­lat­ing interior. A cent­ral, dra­matic atrium space provides a cir­cu­la­tion axis, as well as ener­gising and uni­fy­ing the whole build­ing. The organ­isa­tion is out­stand­ing, exem­pli­fied by the clev­erly loc­ated com­munal meet­ing rooms. There is a won­der­ful feel­ing of space, with views to the out­side and through the atrium from most work areas, yet at the same time a strong sense of being part of the whole community.

Sus­tain­able Archi­tec­ture Award: This build­ing rep­res­ents the suc­cess­ful cul­min­a­tion of a vis­ion shared by the cli­ents and archi­tects, one in which sus­tain­ab­il­ity was fun­da­mental from the start. Nat­ural light and open­ness engender an uplift­ing feel­ing and a sense of con­nec­ted­ness to the out­side world from all parts of the build­ing. Sus­tain­ab­il­ity prin­ciples are not cas­u­ally brought on board to chase green star points; they are intrinsic to the building’s design. The NZI Centre sets a new stand­ard for what is required of our cor­por­ate cit­izens.

NZi3 Innov­a­tion Insti­tute, Christ­ch­urch by War­ren and Mahoney.

Pub­lic Archi­tec­ture Award: This build­ing fur­nishes both a strik­ing new face for the Uni­ver­sity of Can­ter­bury and a pres­ence span­ning the divide between the uni­ver­sity and the busi­ness com­munity. A robust, bridge-like frame, dra­mat­ic­ally can­ti­levered, sup­ports an eth­er­eal frit­ted glass skin and seems to hover beside the street. It is a cel­eb­ra­tion of light and trans­par­ency; passers-by are given an idea of interior activ­ity, while those inside have a beau­ti­ful light-filled workspace.

Land­scape Archi­tec­ture Build­ing, Christ­ch­urch by Shep­pard and Rout Archi­tects in asso­ci­ation with Royal Associates.

Pub­lic Archi­tec­ture Award: This intim­ately scaled addi­tion to Lin­coln Uni­ver­sity provides an invit­ing con­nec­tion to the main cam­pus. Con­tex­tual sens­it­iv­ity has helped cre­ate a robust build­ing of con­crete, brick and tim­ber, with a twist – hori­zontal con­crete bands provide a frame against which brick­work dances, curtain-like. Shift­ing geo­met­ries give an organic qual­ity to the main teach­ing spaces. The pro­ject offers testi­mony that a mira­cu­lous out­come can be delivered on a tight budget.

Te Kura Kaupapa Maori & Te Kohanga Reo O Mana Tam­ar­iki, Palmer­ston North by Tennent and Brown Architects.

Pub­lic Archi­tec­ture award: This truly Maori school is the res­ult of the archi­tects care­fully listen­ing to and under­stand­ing the cli­ent. Maori sens­ib­il­it­ies have driven the pro­ject concept. The jour­ney from young to old is handled within the spirit of whanau; there is always a sense of the next space and of being part of a nur­tur­ing com­munity, sheltered under a calm, ‘cloak­ing’ roof form. A mod­est budget has been met with subtle innov­a­tion and a clever selec­tion of qual­ity materials.

Hillcrest Road Bridge, Auck­land by Jasmax.

Urban Design Award: This pro­ject demon­strates the bene­fits of a close, col­lab­or­at­ive rela­tion­ship between archi­tect and engin­eer. Full advant­age has been taken of the topo­graphy and the memory of the ori­ginal ground line is clev­erly pre­served in the bridge’s gentle curve. Its form is lyr­ical, eleg­ant and mem­or­able. It is, quite simply, a sig­na­ture structure.

Liar­det Street Over­pass, New Ply­mouth by Boon Gold­smith Bhas­kar Breb­ner Team Architecture.

Urban Design Award: Through sound urban design, and a syn­ergy of cir­cu­la­tion and land­form, a simple infra­struc­ture pro­ject has cre­ated a des­tin­a­tion rather than simply a thor­ough­fare. Care­fully meas­ured doses of detail and robust­ness have con­trib­uted to the sculp­tural qual­ity of the work. It is a fine example of what is pos­sible when a local coun­cil decides to go down a design-driven route.

Beau­mont Quarter, Auck­land by Stu­dio Pacific Architecture.

Urban Design Award: What was a pion­eer­ing and ambi­tious pro­ject at its con­cep­tion, employ­ing mul­tiple teams of archi­tects, has achieved a very suc­cess­ful out­come over a long time span. It demon­strates excel­lent use of site, astutely integ­rat­ing a series of streets and pub­lic spaces – as well as the ori­ginal her­it­age build­ing – into the design. The lay­er­ing of space from pub­lic to private is soph­ist­ic­ated; the traffic plan­ning is well handled, with under­ground park­ing free­ing up space for a ped­es­trian and land­scape focus. A great res­ult from a developer-driven project.

Cle­m­ents House, Christ­ch­urch by Ath­field Architects.

Res­id­en­tial Archi­tec­ture Award: Designed and con­struc­ted over many years, this cliff-top house has the incre­mental, added-to qual­ity of a Greek hill town. It is made up of a series of frac­tured pavil­ions, each with external access, all carved into the land­scape with ram­part walls and walled court­yards. You are con­stantly aware of where you are, and both site and cli­matic con­di­tions have been well heeded. The design fea­tures clever plays between ver­nacu­lar and soph­ist­ic­a­tion, with invent­ive use of hand­craf­ted metal work throughout.

Wanaka Lodge by Pat­ter­son Associates.

Res­id­en­tial Archi­tec­ture Award: Simple strategies give sur­pris­ing res­ults with this con­fid­ent, strik­ing res­id­ence. It offers a fresh, excit­ing inter­pret­a­tion of the European influ­enced South Island stone house, and per­fectly answers the call of the cli­ents’ strong per­son­al­it­ies and soci­ab­il­ity. The sim­pli­city of the exter­ior belies a rich interior. Centred around a court­yard is a beau­ti­fully orches­trated series of spaces, all alive with a the­at­rical qual­ity, while care­fully placed win­dows edit spe­cific views. The rural/industrial mater­ial com­bin­a­tions are unusual but successful.

Fox-Hansen House, Nel­son by Ath­field Architects.

Res­id­en­tial Archi­tec­ture Award: Own­ers and archi­tect have been in tune and not held back in the devel­op­ment of this idio­syn­cratic house. Built on a tight site, it is com­posed of slip­ping lin­ear forms and spaces arranged around a series of indi­vidual court­yards and achieves a strik­ing bal­ance between play­ful­ness, form­al­ity and sur­prise. Cli­mat­ic­ally soph­ist­ic­ated, with rich mater­ial qual­ity, invent­ive detail­ing and a well-negotiated rela­tion­ship with neigh­bours, the dwell­ing is imbued with a sense of intrigue and discovery.

O’Sullivan Home, Auck­land by Bull O'Sullivan Architecture.

Small Pro­ject Archi­tec­ture Award: A sense of theatre per­vades this com­pact gem of a res­id­ence. Invent­ive, play­ful, immensely tact­ile with a rich­ness of mater­i­als … it embraces the senses. The joy­ous­ness that car­ried the archi­tects in their explor­a­tion of build­ing tech­niques and mater­i­als is clearly evid­ent. Small details are beau­ti­fully achieved, instilling the mundane with vital­ity and freshness.

The Yel­low Tree­house Res­taur­ant, Auck­land by Pacific Environments.

Small Pro­ject Archi­tec­ture Award: This ‘folly in the trees’ is a poetic idea real­ised with skill and com­pos­i­tional flair. Struc­tural invent­ive­ness has played a key role in the cre­ation of the whim­sical, lantern-like, organic form. Evoc­at­ive and ima­gin­at­ive, it hap­pily fills the role of archi­tec­ture as event.

Wiroa Sta­tion Wine Cel­lar, Bay of Islands by Mod­ern Archi­tec­ture Partners.

Small Pro­ject Archi­tec­ture Award: This min­im­al­ist cave is embed­ded in a hill, a point of sub­ter­ranean retreat cre­at­ing a framed pic­ture of the view. It com­bines wine stor­age with an enter­tain­ment func­tion. A care­fully placed sky­light shaft placed at the rear of the space mod­u­lates the light; the raw, lim­ited mater­ial palette exudes eleg­ance and restraint. It is a clear, simple idea, executed beautifully.

Private Office, Auck­land by Fearon Hay Architects.

Interior Archi­tec­ture Award: Eleg­ance and serenity char­ac­ter­ise this astutely designed office interior. A pre­dom­in­antly single space can be sub­divided or dis­solved by a series of attract­ive pivot­ing pan­els, and the exter­ior view is clev­erly brought right through to the back of the build­ing. The atten­tion to detail is excep­tional and there is a beau­ti­fully restrained qual­ity to the palette of mater­i­als. An air of refine­ment is bal­anced by a mater­ial rawness.

Our Lady of Lourdes, Have­lock North by John Scott.

Endur­ing Archi­tec­ture Award: The poetic form and ori­gin­al­ity of this church shows the hand of a mas­ter archi­tect. It rep­res­ents a fusion of European and Maori influ­ences; simple geo­met­ries executed with ‘divine’ struc­tural expres­sion. The build­ing sits well on its site and in its con­text. A great shel­ter­ing roof, fol­ded on the diag­onal and drop­ping low at the corners, inter­sects effort­lessly with the tower­ing pyr­amid spire. Shafts of vibrantly col­oured glass enliven the atmo­spheric interior. This is a major work by one of New Zealand’s most sig­ni­fic­ant architects.