Three Wellington City Council-supported facilities were announced as winners at the region’s recent Te Kāhui Whaihanga New Zealand Institute of Architects awards.
Tākina Wellington Convention & Exhibition Centre (Studio of Pacific Architecture) and Te Nukuao Wellington Zoo Snow Leopard habitat (Architecture Workshop) both won awards for Public Architecture.
The judging panel said the design for Tākina manages a complex range of responses. Alongside commercial aspirations, the centre needed to operate at a range of scales, be identifiable as a building of national significance, while also fitting in with its surroundings.
Adding that the curvaceous form responds to the site’s geometry and is informed by its maritime setting, Māori mythology, and the winds that give rise to the building’s name, the Council said in a statement.
The panel cited Te Nukuao Wellington Zoo Snow Leopard habitat as having successfully juggled the spoken brief and silent needs of all involved in this project.
The enclosure’s hard landscape is sustainably built, reusing the old sun-bear enclosure materials as fill, minimising waste removal in line with the zoo’s sustainability goals.
An Enduring Architecture award went to City Gallery Wellington | Te Whare Toi (1992-1993) by Gardyne Architecture (now architecture+) with Wellington City Council.
This highly successful adaptive re-use of an anchor civic building is the result of an architectural relationship spanning 30 years. The original project received a National Award in 1994.
The panel of judges was made up of jury convenor architect Mary Daish, and Natasha Markham of MAUD, Stephanie Gardner of HMOA, and Beth Cameron of Makers of Architecture.
