The winners at the 2015 Auckland Architecture Awards were announced last month at MOTAT’s Aviation Hall. There were five local properties from the Western Bays.
Allendale Annexe (Commercial architecture) Ponsonby
Salmond Reed Architects
The challenges could hardly have been more major: build alongside and link to a Category One historic building and its ancient stables on a narrow site with major traffic issues while also making a statement that the client - the ASB Community Trust - is future-facing and contributing to the Ponsonby Road streetscape. This beautifully built two-storey building rises to the challenge. It displays a modesty and restraint appropriate to its occupant and a great respect for its Victorian neighbour.
Marine Parade (Housing - alterations and additions) Herne Bay
Dorrington Atcheson Architects
Intriguing from the street with its spare, brooding style, inside this house reveals a host of pleasures and surprises that take their cue from its original quality build in the 1970s. A faithful attention to period detail does not overshadow the success of the repurpose of the house for modern living. A reconfiguration of some of the interior programme, two substantial additions, and a bold exterior ‘wrap’ have created a house of distinction, substance and elegance.
Sod the Villa (Housing - alterations and additions) Grey Lynn
Malcolm Walker Architects
Tell the villa to sod off? Malcolm Walker has in fact done no such thing in this inspired and inspiring alteration to a rundown Grey Lynn house. Rather, he has breathed life into the old belle, highlighted her beauties and revved up the programme with whimsy, craftsmanship and the deft manipulation of volumes into a series of small but highly pleasing spaces. An almost fanatical attention to details coheres into a renovation of supreme confidence and capability.
Westmere Alteration (Housing - alterations and additions)
Crosson Clarke Carnachan Architects
The box attached to the bungalow, villa, or, as in this case, well-kept little ‘statie’ has become a slightly worn trope. Here it is approached afresh, and elevated most successfully through the use of quality materials, a great build and a light touch achieved with skill and intelligence. The transition between the two forms is deftly handled and the sense of space and light offered by the full-height sliding doors makes this home a delight to be in.
Longroom Canopy (Small Project Architecture) Ponsonby
RTA Studio
Sometimes it is possible to make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear, in this case an undistinguished commercial building in the heart of Ponsonby Road’s densest restaurant and retail zone. The solution was to fabricate an elegant, lace-like screen that reintegrates the building with the street frontage, creating an almost
Medina-like veil. Behind the screen the courtyard space has achieved refinement and enclosure.