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The University of Auckland's new Business School and The Hills Clubhouse at Michael Hill's Queenstown golf club have joined two private residences in being named finalists in the World Architecture Festival awards, to be held in Barcelona in October.
The designs represent the work of three New Zealand
architectural practices: Patterson Associates, Fearon Hay Architects and Archimedia.
Founder of Patterson Associates, Andrew Patterson, said it had taken a while for the news to sink in that not one, but two of the firm's designs had been shortlisted.
"An email came through from WAF (the World Architecture Festival) saying we had been selected for the Michael Hill building in Queenstown, and our team was over the moon.
"It took a day for it to sink in, then just as we were calming down we got a second email, telling us Mai Mai had made it too.
"To have two buildings we have designed named on the world shortlist is both incredibly exciting and humbling."
Mai Mai, a Freeman's Bay house that has stunning views of Auckland's cityscape, also won an award in the Residential category of this year's New Zealand Architecture Awards and The Hills Clubhouse was named one of the Supreme Winners.
Auckland-based Fearon Hay Architects have been shortlisted in the Home and Private Housing category of the WAF awards, alongside Patterson Associates' Mai Mai.
Partner Tim Hay said the entry - named Mountain Retreat - was outside of Queenstown on the road to Glenorchy and had been completed within the last six months.
"Getting recognition like this from the international architecture community really amplifies the fact that New Zealand architects can compete on the world stage," Hay said.
Another of Fearon Hay Architects' designs won one of the Supreme Awards at the 2007 New Zealand Architecture Awards.
The University of Auckland's new Business School and Learning Centre was the fourth New Zealand-based nominee to make one of the WAF's shortlists.
A collaboration between Auckland-based Archimedia and Australian firm FJMT Architects, the building is the result of an international design competition which was run by the university to select its designers.
FJMT Architects' Richard Francis-Jones said the building was a "very ambitious project on a very difficult site".
"We've used glass and stainless steel and a titanium inner-layer, so it's sandwiched between two sheets of glass, which gives quite a nice effect.
"It's a very unusual use of that material. The titanium makes it look stripy from the outside and like you've got sunglasses on from the inside."
Francis-Jones said the collaboration with Archimedia worked well because FJMT Architects tended to be more involved in the design end of a project, while Archimedia focused on the construction end.
Archimedia's Neil Martin said he was "absolutely delighted" to learn of the nomination, which he said would have been helped by the dramatic and iconic form of the building.
One of the conditions of entry into the inaugural awards is that the architects must present their projects in person at the festival in Spain.
The New Zealand finalists are up against some of the world's most celebrated architects, with the The Hills Clubhouse in the same category as Beijing's Olympics' Water Cube and London's new Wembley Stadium in the Sport category.
In addition to winners across 17 categories being announced, one design will be named World Building of the Year.
The 2008 awards are for buildings that were completed between January 1, 2007 and June 20, 2008.
