Judge and jury
Touring the country with the judging panel for our Home of the Year awards.
On tour with the panel for Home of the Year 2017
By the time you read this, HOME’s editor Simon Farrell-Green will be on the road – along with international guest judge Todd Saunders and celebrated architect Richard Naish – to judge the 2017 Home of the Year, brought to you by Altherm Window Systems.
There was a bumper crop of entries this year and the panel will visit 15 houses in all – from Mangawhai to Queenstown via Cambridge and Lyttelton, Hahei and Island Bay – across seven days, multiple flights and rental cars. Then they’ll sit down and work out the final six, to be published in our April/May issue.
There’s a building boom, sure, but there’s also a growing sophistication in New Zealand architecture. In the City Home category, there are houses on tiny urban sections where owners have chosen to build small but smart, a breathtaking response to an awkward corner site, and two complicated suburban sites with neighbours close by. There’s a thoroughly urban house in a provincial town and a place that makes brilliant use of a strangely shaped site. There are four country houses in the Retreat category, with one perched above mudflats and another inhabiting a beautiful sheltered valley. It all goes to show that while a great view helps, it’s not everything: design is key.
The judging team will also stop in Wellington (February 14) and Auckland (February 16) for two public lectures with Saunders – in Wellington, they’ll show Strange & Familiar: Architecture on Fogo Island, a film of his work in Newfoundland. At both, over a glass of wine, Saunders will chat about what he’s seen of New Zealand architecture.
And don’t forget to follow the journey on Instagram – it’s a tough gig, but someone has to do it.