This year's judging panel is comprised of architects Raphaela Rose, Murali Bhaskar, Ngā Aho representative Whare Timu, and Institute President Huia Reriti.
Raphaela Rose
Director, Ahha
Raphaela won the Student Design Awards in 2013 for ‘Sex(uality) and the City: Counteracting the Cockups of Auckland’s Main Strip’. She is a director of Ahha, a social enterprise and certified B-Corp practice with Net Zero Carbon Lite certification.
Raphaela has worked at Jasmax and RTA Studio, as well as practices in Spain and New York. In July this year, she won the Interior Awards’ Emerging Design Professional, with the judges describing her as a “whirlwind of energy and creativity” and commending her unwavering commitment to excellence. “Part artist, environmental caretaker and pop-punk political force of nature, she is one of a new generation of activists with a firm conviction and belief in the power of design to drive change,” they said.
Ahha is a multi-disciplinary practice that engages with design, experimentation and art in its projects.
Murali Bhaskar
FNZIA, Design Director, Boon Architects
Murali has more than 30 years’ experience in master planning civic, community, cultural, urban design and residential projects, and has applied his skills to tourism and education projects. Originally hailing from Kerala, South India, Murali is based in Ngāmotu New Plymouth. Over the years, he has actively developed his understanding of ngā tikanga o Taranaki and engaged with local iwi and hapū in his work. He has been a judge on numerous design panels in Aotearoa and appreciates this country’s vernacular architecture. “Our buildings are often storytellers,” says Murali, who blurs the boundaries between media, interpretation, art, design and architecture in his own work.
Whare Timu
Ngā Aho representative
Whare (Ngāti Kahungunu, Te Arawa, Ngāti Tūwharetoa) is a practitioner based in Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington. His experience in the built environment includes serving as the lead at Te Matakīrea, Warren and Mahoney’s Advanced Indigenous Design Unit.
His notable projects include the Sir Howard Morrison Performing Arts Centre in Rotorua and He Tohu Document Room at the National Library, which houses taonga of Te Tiriti o Waitangi. As well as being a Ngā Aho committee member, Whare’s Māori design advocacy includes contributing to the development of Te Aranga Māori Design Principles and Te Kawenata o Rata.
Huia Reriti
FNZIA, Perehitini of Te Kāhui Whaihanga New Zealand Institute of Architects, partner at MAP Architects
Huia Reriti (Ngāi Tahu) assumed his role as Perehitini in May 2024. He completed a Bachelor of Architecture at Waipapa Taumata Rau University of Auckland and worked for William (Bill) Tuarau Royal’s practice and Warren and Mahoney in Ōtautahi Christchurch. In his capacity as a trustee for the Matapopore Charitable Trust, Huia contributed to Shifting Foundations, Post-quake architecture of Ōtautahi Christchurch (Freerange Press). The trust was mandated by his runanga, Ngai Tuahuriri, to provide cultural advice on the Christchurch Anchor Projects following the city’s 2010-2011 earthquakes.