The ability of New Zealand architects to design, innovate and infuse designs with culture has been internationally recognised, with nine new buildings (and one landscape) named as finalists in the prestigious 2016 World Architecture Festival (WAF).
Te Oro, Glen Innes, designed by Archimedia Architects
WAF is an awards programme that celebrates global architectural excellence. It attracts the best buildings from the world’s leading architecture practices, and is judged by international panels of architects and critics who are experts in their fields. From the finalists, which have been selected from 58 countries, one project will go on to be named ‘World Building of the Year’ – an honour won in 2013 by Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki.
This year's festival will be held for the first time in Berlin from 16 - 18 November. Short descriptions and details of New Zealand finalists follow. All projects are designed by practice members of the New Zealand Institute of Architects.
Te Oro, designed by Archimedia, is a vibrant state-of-the-art music and arts centre for young people in Glen Innes. The design draws inspiration from Auckland’s Pacific cultures and a historically significant grove of karaka trees. The building consists of three pavilions linked by glazed areas that allow sunlight to filter inside, much as it does through a forest’s canopy. The project provides Archimedia with an opportunity to repeat its earlier WAF triumph – the firm was part of the design team for Auckland Art Gallery.
RTA Studio, from Auckland, will present three projects at WAF. Occupying a prominent site near Auckland Airport, a warehouse and office building for Hellman Logistics is composed of slanting planes which, in reference to the volcanic landscape, make the building appear as if it is erupting from the ground. Tarawera High School, in Kawerau, is a successful modern learning environment designed by RTA to occupy three ‘houses’, each of which incorporates interchangeable and flexible spaces. RTA’s third project, the E-Type House, in Auckland, is a family home with the floorplan of a capital ‘E’. Set in an inner-city suburb amongst wooden villas and bungalows, it shows that through carefully considered design, heritage and contemporary architecture can be compatible.
Other housing finalists at WAF include Crosson Architects’ Red House, a compact and cost-effective home in a pocket of Titirangi native bush, and the K Valley House, near Thames, where Herbst Architects employed corrugated metal and well-worn timbers, which had already developed a patina of age, to achieve a rich and distinctive design. Patterson Associates’ Len Lye Centre, a building of curved stainless steel and concrete that has received wide acclaim at home, is a finalist in WAF’s Arts and Culture category.
#LightPathAKL is a finalist in the transport category. The popular, bright-pink bike path, designed by Monk Mackenzie Architects + LandLab, recently won a 2016 Auckland Architecture Award, with judges describing it as “a ribbon of light in a cluttered and congested landscape”.
The XV Pacific Games Village, in Port Moresby, designed by Warren and Mahoney Architects, provides Papua New Guinea with an elegant and progressive example of multi-unit housing. The project, which housed 4000 athletes and officials for the Pacific Games, has a legacy as University student accommodation. Papua New Guinea’s identity, character and rituals are referenced in the building design.
This year, New Zealand also has a finalist in the World Landscape of the Year competition at WAF. Kopupaka Reserve, designed by Isthmus, is a 22 hectare open space in west Auckland. The design, based around woven crib baskets that filter stormwater from Westgate town centre, combines architecture, art, technical engineering, ecology, and cultural and community considerations.
