Swamp Dwelling by Ben Brady of Linetype Architectural. Photography by Dennis Radermacher.
On Friday the 29th of October the ADNZ community came together to celebrate the entrants and winners of the 2021 ADNZ Resene Architectural Design Awards programme.
The 2021 ADNZ Resene SUPREME Architectural Design Award has gone to a Christchurch ‘Swamp Dwelling’ in Opawa. Designed by Ben Brady of Linetype Architectural, the unique 150sqm home is built opposite a river in a flood management area and exemplifies, in the most extraordinary way, what is possible on an unforgiving, uninspiring site with no views, no bush and no heritage. Out of the swamp has risen a sophisticated but unassuming beauty.
Ben Brady’s fondly referenced ‘Swamp Dwelling’ was built for a retired couple looking to down size maintenance commitments while also building a house tailored to their specific needs. They wanted easy accessibility, good building performance, an art studio, motorcycle workshop, a bedroom and a guest suite, plus good outdoor living. Challenges with the site included a required floor level of 1.4m above ground, tough rules on earthworks and filling, a narrow lot, and a generous road setback from the river.
When designing the SUPREME project, Brady had to decide how to work with the difficult site.
“What do you do when you are in a flood management area and the minimum floor level is 1.4m off the ground? We think high pile stilts, a good amount of raised decking, an open subfloor for drainage, a ramp to raised parking and reduced steps to the house, drop the cladding skirt and areas of decking around the house so it doesn’t overbear. Throw in a custom steel screen for privacy on your raised deck and maybe a wharf for a rainy day,” said Brady.
The ADNZ judges were wowed by the project.
“This is one of those buildings where the more you keep looking, the more you find. There is nothing exceptional about the site to exploit, there is no stunning view, no native bush, no flowing stream, and no heritage setting, no inspiration is present. Instead, this unforgiving site presents two direct difficulties – a long thin plan and a high ground water level. But yet, what has been produced here is an outstanding design. The extended gable to the front creates a sheltered link to the exterior landscaped areas; and a finely crafted folded perforated Corten screen creates a complementary screening and sheltering element to the front deck and elevation. A stepped deck softens the height of the exterior elevation inside and throughout, the design is exquisitely detailed and consistent.
When you peel back the engaging and pleasing skin of this building, underneath you find the solid bones of a set of well-understood, eco-friendly technologies and design solutions. Out of the swamp has risen a sophisticated but unassuming beauty,” they said.
In addition to Ben Brady’s SUPREME award win, nine other New Zealand designers were awarded National ADNZ Resene Architectural Design Awards.
The winners are Craig South of South Architects from Christchurch, Pip Bolton of AVAIL PACIFIC LIMITED in Northland, Adam Taylor of ata of Tauranga, Tane Cox of Red Architecture in Hamilton, Greg Young and Andy McLeod of Young Architects in Christchurch, Mike Stevenson of Stevenson Design from Dunedin, Mitchell Coll of Coll Architecture and Pippin Wright-Stow of F3 Design from Christchurch.
Craig South of South Architects won two awards. He won the 2021 ADNZ Resene Multi-Unit Dwelling Architectural Design Award Sponsored by MiTek for his work on the Peterborough Housing Co-operative and the 2021 ADNZ Resene Residential New Home over 300m2 Architectural Design Award for his design of ‘Folded Roof Home’.
‘Folded Roof Home’ is a design created around the challenge of a narrow street façade. The home uses its folded roof form to guide visitors up through the interior spaces toward the amazing views of the Southern Alps. The family home is spread across two levels and responds creatively to the challenge of the beautiful location.
Judges said it was a thoughtful and inventive design.
“Dynamic space planning has been employed particularly well to resolve issues and exploit the full potential of this challenging site. The folded roof planes are set up to complement the spatial planning. The light is let in through clerestory openings which work in beautiful tandem with the interiors. This is a scheme where three dimensions are needed to tell the story and where the elevational drawings struggle to illustrate how the folded roof form has been employed with great poise,” said the judging panel.
Pip Bolton of AVAIL PACIFIC LIMITED won the 2021 ADNZ Resene Commercial Interiors Architectural Design Award Sponsored by GIB for her design of Te Hononga, Hundertwasser Memorial Park.
Floating over an old riverbed in the centre of the famous Northland town Kawakawa, is Te Hononga. The project brief was to design a building that honours and pays homage to Friedensreich Hundertwasser. A combined vision of the Kawakawa Hundertwasser Memorial Park Charitable Trust (KHMPCT) and Ngāti Hine artists and crafts people, the building provides spaces for a public library, community workshop, interpretive centre with video and audio displays of local relationships with Hundertwasser, his philosophies for art and architecture, ecology and conservation.
The design is two interlocking colourful heart shaped buildings, one of rammed earth and the other timber, lovingly crafted by a community with passion and determination.
Adam Taylor of ata won the 2021 ADNZ Resene Residential Alterations and Additions Architectural Design Award for his work on a project titled ‘Over the Fence’ in Papamoa Beach.
Taylor says the clients wanted to celebrate the existing relaxed character of the home, not re-invent it.
“They appreciated small space design and blurring space boundaries. The existing house, albeit tired, was a typical two-bedroom Beasley with small living spaces. The brief called for a master retreat and additional living space. As creative clients, they wanted their beach shack to evolve to suit their young family and better engage with the sunny yards. As we lived over the back fence, we knew the site well and quickly understood the dynamics of how they wanted to live,” says Taylor.
ADNZ Judges called the home an authentic, laid back, low-key design for a bach extension, utilising a fantastic array of materials and the integration of landscape elements.
“The designer has managed to upgrade an existing house while also maintaining the tradition of a kiwi bach, evoking emotions of summer holidays, think wet togs, sandy floors, and jelly tip ice creams,” said the panel.
Tane Cox of Red Architecture won the 2021 ADNZ Resene Residential New Home up to 150m2 Architectural Design Award for Moonlight Bay in Raglan.
Designed for a small, seaside site at Moonlight Bay, the brief was for a refined, enjoyable, flexible, and robust dwelling. Design considerations included maximising the small site, managing the steep contour, sheltering from the predominant westerly and creating spaces that were suitable for adults, kids and guests to occupy. With this brief in mind, a home arranged as a group of small pods was created. The four pods involve a series of decks, and the house is clad in stained cedar and bare hardwoods. Careful consideration was taken by Cox to ensure the home nestled into the site and that its palette was considerate to the immediate environment to ensure its visual impact was minimal.
Greg Young and Andy McLeod of Young Architects won the 2021 ADNZ Resene Residential Interiors Architectural Design Award for their project ‘The Christchurch Style Revival’.
ADNZ judges said the careful and well-controlled articulation of a rich material palette has contributed to a very successful interior in this project that both respects and references the Christchurch style with a clear authority and understanding.
Mike Stevenson of Stevenson Design won the 2021 ADNZ Resene Commercial/ Industrial Architectural Design Award for New New New Residence.
The ‘New New New Residence’ is a futuristic brewery and residential project where a two-storey historic façade has been retained with a new three-storey building behind. A simple offset cuboid form assists with integrating modern into historic, while also being sympathetic to the original façade. Composite aluminium split into a random pattern clads the cube form giving the first glimpse into the unique apartment interior.
Mitchell Coll of Coll Architecture and Pippin Wright-Stow of F3 Design won the 2021 ADNZ Resene Colour in Design Award for Walker Street.
With the change of times, outcast office workers are seeking less conventional working spaces-something different from the typically rigid high end office fitout. The brief for this project was to offer a relaxed co-working space, with more privacy than other examples, while still maintaining the benefits of a collaborative creative space, such as liveliness, networking, and an ease for business expansion. By catering to a variety of working styles, this shared facility strives to cultivate a rich atmosphere of ingenuity and resourcefulness.
The Judges said that the vivid blues, fire engine reds and industrial yellows contrast against historic fixtures, salvaged materials and greenery to bring energy and optimism to this eclectic work space.
Architectural Designers New Zealand's (ADNZ) CEO, Gregory Watts, congratulated all the national award winners.
“Every year we are absolutely blown away by the talent of our architectural design community. The SUPREME Award winner is a win for us all, as it truly demonstrates that the best doesn’t necessarily mean the most expensive, the most impressive site or even the largest. It is much more than that. It is about delivering a home that works for the site and ultimately the people that live there, and in this case wrapping it in a unique package. Well done Ben Brady,” said Watts.