The enduring design of two Wellington landmarks – the Michael Fowler Centre and the Freyberg Pool – have won accolades. Both have won enduring architecture awards at the 2011 New Zealand Architecture Awards.
"The Michael Fowler Centre in Wellington is nearly 30 years old and the Freyberg Pool was build in the 1960s, but they still feel modern and they're still enjoyed by the community," said the award judges, headed by Wellington architect Hugh Tennent.
The Warren and Mahoney-designed Michael Fowler Centre was cited as "an examplar of New Zealand architecture of its time ... an excellently maintained facility of enduring quality". The Freyberg Pool, designed by King and Dawson, was described as a "modest wonder" and a valuable amenity looked on with affection by Wellingtonians.
Wellington projects picked up another five of the 26 national awards. They went to the City Gallery, the new Supreme Court and the restoration of the former Supreme Court, Te Puni residential village at Victoria University and a small beach-house on the Kapiti Coast.
Mr Tennent said the awards showed that New Zealand architecture was healthy and vibrant despite the slow economy. The judges were particularly impressed by the standard of some public buildings, including the reworking and enlargement of the City Gallery carried out by Wellington practice architecture+.
The extension, which provided three more galleries and an auditorium, was "a case-study in the successful adaptation of heritage structure", the judges said. Warren and Mahoney also received heritage and interior architectural awards for its work on the Supreme Court.
Award judges said a significant heritage building had been rejuvenated and equipped for contemporary use. The interior of the new court was an extraordinary room displaying a high level of refined craftsmanship.
Victoria University's Te Puni Village student accommodation block in Kelburn, designed by Architectus, received an award in the multiple housing category and the Kapiti Retreat, a small Raumati South beach-house designed by Geoff Fletcher Architects, won a small project award.
Other awards went to an Auckland office tower, the Oamaru Opera House, an apartment in New York, a Newmarket railway station and a bus shelter in Queenstown. An overall winner in the awards will be named on May 20.