We’re excited to announce our second Here Awards shortlist. In mid-September, we’ll be on the road visiting these fine projects – from Pakiri north of Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland to Ōtautahi Christchurch in the south, and taking in Ōtama, Tamahere, Akaroa and Punakaiki.
Some themes? We’re delighted with the breadth and variety: it feels complete. It’s another strong year for the Small Project and New House categories, as well as Reuse and Renovation.
Instead of a specific green or sustainable category, we ask for a sustainability statement for every project entered and it’s pleasing to see the thought going on in this sector, with a number of houses built to passive-house standard plus some deep thinking about the carbon impact of building.
And surprisingly, the Apartment or Townhouse category has come out strongly, numbering five of our 12 projects. As councils around the country consider the changes wrought by impending new density rules, it’s an opportune time to explore the way our cities are changing.
It’s a journey we couldn’t contemplate making without the generous support of our awards partners and so here we acknowledge the support of Città, Resene and Blum.
We’ll announce the finalists online in October, so keep an eye on our social channels via @thisishere.nz. And watch out for our awards party – in person this time! – in central Tāmaki Makaurau on Wednesday October 19, where we’ll name the category winners and Best House Aotearoa 2022.
Here they are, from south to north.
Nightlight
Fabric
Akaroa
Small Project
When is a utility shed more than a utility shed? When it becomes a small light sculpture in the bush, providing services and delight in equal measure.
Riverbank Quarter
Stufkens + Chambers Architects
Ōtautahi Christchurch
Apartment or Townhouse
A mixed-used development that seeks to bring social ecology back to the city with different building types arrayed across a riverside block. Brick cladding references the area’s heritage, as does a deliberately human scale.
Dorset Street Flats
Young Architects
Ōtautahi Christchurch
Apartment or Townhouse; Reuse and Renovation
Sir Miles Warren’s groundbreaking “bachelor flats” were almost destroyed by the Canterbury earthquakes. The restoration has involved painstaking work to rescue, strengthen and update, while making them significantly more comfortable to live in.
Biv Punakaiki
Fabric
Punakaiki
New House
A future-focussed riff on a gold miner’s hut, Biv is the first of a series of small guest houses on this bush-covered site. Built from cross-laminated timber panels with low embodied carbon, the building’s thermal mass and ventilation system keeps it at an even temperature year-round.
Block Party
Spacecraft Architects
Southgate, Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington
New House; Apartment or Townhouse; Colour, Craft and Detail
Six friends club together to sidestep the excesses of a runaway housing market. Overcoming pandemic-related building issues and antiquated funding models, this medium-density co-housing project is a blueprint for future suburban development.
Deep Cover
Edwards White Architects
Tamahere, Waikato
Small Project; Colour, Craft and Detail
Deep Cover is a multi-use pavilion designed for shelter and play. The building references the nationally iconic game of cricket, informed by the idea of the “drinks break”. The long, singular form presents two distinct team spaces, connected by a deep covered verandah.
Waimataruru
Pac Studio & Kristina Pickford Design
Ōtama, Waikato
New House; Interior, Colour, Craft and Detail
It’s easy to be distracted by the beauty of this home’s carefully crafted interior and its close relationship with an extraordinary site. Less obvious? Off-grid energy, timber construction, low operational carbon and thermal performance have created a future-ready home.
Anawhata House
Paul Davidson
Anawhata
New House; Interior; Colour, Craft and Detail
A compact home with just enough, designed and built by its occupants. This house is a reaction to the heavy rainfall of the Waitākere Ranges, with generous roof overhangs and bespoke gutters. Exposed bracing and framing are similarly honest.
A Diaphanous Design
Lloyd Hartley Architects
Britomart, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland
Reuse and Renovation; Apartment or Townhouse;
In a heritage 1930s warehouse, Lloyd Hartley have stripped back an existing apartment, exposing the underlying structure while exploring privacy, transparency, texture and modularity.
Jervois
Monk Mackenzie Architects
& Amelia Holmes Interiors
Herne Bay, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland
Apartment or Townhouse
This new apartment block makes the most of updated density rules with a graceful form. An undulating, elegant steel screen nods to neighbouring villas. Four levels of apartments combine winter gardens and beautiful interiors with commanding views of the Waitematā.
Crinkle Cut House
Pac Studio & Steven Lloyd Architecture
Point Wells, Matakana
New House; Interior; Colour, Craft and Detail
On a public coastal site, living spaces wrap around a courtyard, with breezeways blurring inside and out. Timber louvres can be precisely fine-tuned to control wind, sun and ambient light – not to mention prospect and privacy.
East Coast Beach House
Herbst Architects
Pakiri
New House; Interior; Colour, Craft and Detail
Floating above the dunes, a two-bedroom house is drawn from the softly undulating land and the horizon. The simple rectilinear form is sheathed in a rainscreen of timber battens; the top edge of the rainscreen sharply cut, the underside shaped in soft curves.
Here Awards 2022
Related Stories:
