Whangārei's $59m Te Iwitahi civic centre won a commercial award at last night's ceremony, its inclusion of local hapū in design development was specifically mentioned by judges. Photo / Mark Scowen Photography supplied via LDR
Whangārei's $59m Te Iwitahi civic centre won a commercial award at last night's ceremony, its inclusion of local hapū in design development was specifically mentioned by judges. Photo / Mark Scowen Photography supplied via LDR
Whangārei’s $59 million Te Iwitahi civic centre has been honoured for its “strong tikanga Māori narrative” at the Auckland region’s Te Kāhui Whaihanga New Zealand Institute of Architects Awards.
The Whangārei District Council building won a commercial architecture award for Auckland-based TEAM Architects at the event in Auckland last night.
Te Iwitahi sought to connect those in the building more closely to nature. The building features include natural lighting and ventilation, two green-walled stairways and a four-storey atrium.
The building was commended by judges for its “universal multi-cultural themes and a strong tikanga Māori narrative”.
Whangārei architect Matakohe Architecture and Urbanism was the project’s hapū-appointed designer, facilitating hapū input and supporting the integration of hapū mātauranga and tikanga into the civic building and its landscaping.
Judges said the ambitious civic building placed the community, council staff and principles of placemaking at the very heart of the design approach.
Te Iwitahi was an attractive, collegial and comfortable working environment, the centre highly popular with the community and staff, judges said.
Meanwhile, Whangārei’s controversial Kāinga Ora Puriri Park Road development also won a planning and urban design award for Auckland-based Architectus.
Whangarei's Puriri Park Road Kainga Ora housing development seen from the air provides new homes and an award for Auckland’s Architectus. Photo/Sean McCabe supplied via LDR
Judges said the project was a well-planned housing community carefully stitched and integrated into its existing neighbourhood.
“The masterplan for Kāinga Ora provides much-needed new homes for vulnerable members of the community in the Northland region.
“Incorporation of the existing recreational open space, retention of mature trees on the street frontage and access to the adjacent puriri forest make a unique backdrop to the houses. A small community hub offers space to bring residents together.”
Puriri Park Road has 37 new homes with people moving into the first of these in mid-2022.
It attracted opposition when it was announced in 2018, with many nearby residents concerned about the housing development’s impact on their neighbourhood and property values.
The two Whangarei projects were among six winners from the North at the architectural awards. The Auckland region covers the area from South Auckland to Northland, with overall national winners announced in November.
The North’s other winners included Glamuzina Architects winning a commercial award for Awanui’s Kā Uri facility, which welcomes visitors to the Far North’s Te Hiku o Te Ika and builds community resilience for Ngāti Kuri.
Awanui’s Kā Uri was symbolic as the physical gateway to the Far North’s Te Hiku o Te Ika, judges said. It comprised a repurposed building that welcomed visitors, hosted events, provided local employment opportunities, supported community programmes and accommodated a waka school.
Mangawhai’s Tara Iti Golf Club won a house architecture award for Auckland’s Studio John Irving Architects.
A room with a view in Glider house at Tara Iti golf course house near Mangawhai by Studio John Irving Architects. Photo/ Simon Wilson supplied via LDR
Studio John Irving Architects also won awards for two projects at the adjacent Te Arai Golf course south of Mangawhai – a hospitality architecture award for Ric’s cafe and commercial category award for The Suites hotel.
Judges said Ric’s was carefully sited in the dunes adjacent to Te Arai links golf course. It overlooked the 12-hole putting green, with views out to Taranga and Marotiri islands.
Te Arai's The Suites won a commercial architecture award at last night’s ceremony. Photo/ Jono Parker supplied via LDR
It was quietly unassuming under a corrugated mantle and evoked a contemporary coastal-rural vernacular, judges said.
Irving also won one of the housing category awards for his Tara Iti Golf Club house near Mangawhai. Judges said Glider, a reimagined A-frame house defied its size by rescaling perspective.
Its simple form was splayed and anchored at four points in the sand dunes of Tara Iti Golf Club. Its timber-clad roof disguised a large skylight to the central living space and was peeled back from the sides to reveal a bedroom suite either side, judges said.
■ LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
