Landmark new offices, a minimalist cave and the famous Yellow Treehouse Restaurant are among outstanding designs recognised in the 2010 New Zealand Architecture Awards.

Eighteen awards were made to 15 buildings nationally in the country's premier competition for design and architecture.

A maximum of three New Zealand Architecture Awards can be made in each of 10 categories. The winning projects will now be considered for the 2010 New Zealand Architecture Medal, to be announced in May. Only one Medal may be awarded each year.

Wellington-based architect Gerald Parsonson, convenor of the awards jury, said the quality of winning entries had been very high. "The commercial winners were particularly strong architecturally while also displaying a genuine ecological sensitivity," he said.

"We thought the residential projects pushed the boundaries more this year, showing a real inventiveness and uniqueness, from the Mediterranean feel of a clifftop villa overlooking the Sumner inlet in Christchurch to a beautifully orchestrated stone-clad courtyard house in Wanaka."