Award winners by design

A celebration of some of the country’s best architecture has seen a trio of Marlborough businesses win coveted awards.

The Te Kāhui Whaihanga New Zealand Institute of Architects’ 2021 awards are being held in Nelson tonight (Wednesday).

Winners include Blenheim coffee roastery and cafe CPR HQ, by local practice Rural Workshop architecture for their entry into the Hospitality Architecture category.

Blenheim’s Bragato Research Winery saw Jerram Tocker Barron take the commercial architecture award and Borrmeister Architects’ took home their fourth award of the night in the Housing category for Pivot House in Blenheim.

Jury convenor and architect William Samuels says it takes collaboration to produce winning designs.

He says many of the winning residential projects clearly benefited from close collaboration and personal relationships between architect, client and builder.

This was a reminder of the joint effort required to produce buildings of significance and meaning, he says.

“After a year that required us to reflect heavily on the nature of our social interactions, it’s heartening to see so many works that facilitate public engagement.”

He says the awards are a reminder of the joint effort required to produce buildings of significance and meaning.

“The depth of these relationships can be felt in the warmth and welcoming nature of the homes, and by the ongoing friendships after construction has been completed”, he says.

Bragato Research Winery by Jerram Tocker Barron Architects

The Wine Research Building is located on the Marlborough Research Centre and NMIT Campus in Blenheim and is a hub for viticulture and research.

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An architecturally simple form hides a sophisticated programme that facilitates the changing nature of the research work taking place within. Simple moves such as windows at the perfect height for overlooking the vines outside elevate this building to the status of an 'elegant shed'. Temperature control and running costs are critical functions of the building and these have been carefully considered as part of the architecture. It is admirable to see an architect so knowledgeable about the environmental impacts of their design and how these have been worked through. This project is part of a wider masterplan, which is currently under construction, and we look forward to seeing it sit within that landscape.

CPR HQ by Rural Workshop Architecture

This thoughtful project reimagined an old concrete building in Blenheim as a coffee roastery with a lively public interface.

A narrow lot in Blenheim's CBD has become a vibrant coffee roastery and cafe thanks to simple yet effective interventions by the architects who, despite a limited budget, made all the right moves. The existing building required significant seismic upgrades along with modifications and replanning to address its limited natural light and amenity. A new internal courtyard provides a lightwell that draws the sun and air into the heart of the building and creates a sheltered dining area where exposed concrete walls and new seismic steelwork provide a raw and honest aesthetic. Most significantly, by removing the original facade and setting the new glazing line back from the street edge, the architects have allowed light to penetrate deep into the building, and created a generous covered front terrace - an important urban gesture that creates a new public gathering space and a lively interface with the street.

Pivot House by Borrmeister Architects

A refined example of suburban living that is designed to embrace the benefits of the

Pivoting around an open kitchen, this home’s internal areas are spacious, engaging and designed to harness both light and ventilation from all available aspects. Composed of a set of rotated pavilions, the house’s resulting negative spaces provide generous outdoor living areas for enjoyment of beautifully landscaped gardens. One can easily see how the inhabitants might move through the home as the day begins, enjoying morning light on the front deck and tending to the vege garden, before retreating from the heat of the day, then entertaining into the evening.