‘Imaginative and courageous’ designs awarded

FOUR houses and a performing arts centre, by four designers, have been singled out at this year’s OtagoSouthland ADNZ Architectural Design Awards.

Nathan Taylor of Taylored Spaces Ltd, Pete Barham of Open Architecture Ltd, Matthew AndersonStewart of MAS Architecture and Cameron Grindlay of Dwelling Architectural Design — with two projects — have all been praised by Architectural Designers New Zealand judges ahead of this month’s national awards in Auckland.

ADNZ chief executive Gregory Watts said the southern projects were ‘‘imaginative and courageous’’.

‘‘From performing art centres through to homes that defy gravity, we have been blown away by the bold and incredible talent from the OtagoSouthland region,’’ Mr Watts said.

Nathan Taylor won the OtagoSouthland residential new home up to 150sq m architectural design award and the OtagoSouthland colour in design award for a Dunedin project dubbed ‘‘Jason Street Glass House’’.

Judges said homage to modernism and classic minimalism too often fell short, but Mr Taylor’s design not only went the distance, it exceeded expectations.

The ‘‘modernist glass house’’ traverses a gully and is surrounded by native bush, which Mr Taylor said allowed him to find ‘‘a creative solution’’ to the complexities of the site.

Pete Barham received the

OtagoSouthland highly commended award in the residential new home over 300sq m category for his work on a holiday home for a young family at Lake Wanaka.

The fourbedroom holiday home wraps around a central, eastfacing courtyard for sunny breakfasts and coffee, to the northwest facing living area for evenings on the deck — the house was praised for taking advantage of all the daylight on offer.

Matthew AndersonStewart received the OtagoSouthland commended award in the residential alterations and additions category for his ‘‘Arrowtown Cottage’’.

Given the brief to create a living space that not only better connected the house to the Arrowtown landscape, but brought much more light into the space, his simple ‘‘yet extremely effective’’ design transformed the cottage, while keeping its original character, judges said.

Cameron Grindlay was recognised for his St Hilda’s Collegiate School ‘‘Te Waka Huia’’ performing arts centre, and the residential interiors of his Ravensbourne, Dunedin, home ‘‘ Harbour Views’’.

The arts centre won the OtagoSouthland commercial/ industrial architectural design award.

Judges praised its playful, pulsating facade that maintained a visual harmony, and its slender form and use of communityconsistent materials to meld into its surroundings.

The the Ravensbourne home, given the OtagoSouthland commended award in the residential interiors category, was highlighted for its playful use of space, form and material as it ‘‘transcends contemporary trends’’.

PHOTOS: SUPPLIED Homage . . . Nathan Taylor’s Jason Street Glass House, in Dunedin, is ambitious enough in design to bring to mind modernist greats such as Philip Johnson and Miles van der Rohe, judges say.

Dawn to dusk . . . Pete Barham’s Wanaka House capitalises on its location to get the best out of its space at any time of day.

Compact and classy . . . Cameron Grindlay’s Harbour Views maximises both a small footprint and harbour vistas.

Renewed views . . . Matthew AndersonStewart’s Arrowtown Cottage makes purposeful connections between the outside and spaces within the home.

PHOTO: SUPPLIED Balance . . . Cameron Grindlay’s Te Waka Huia matches the needs and the aesthetics of a dance, drama, live performance, photography and visual art centre with St Hilda’s Collegiate School’s location within a residential area.