Table of contents for June / August 2019 in Interior

This year’s iteration of the Green Building Summit, held in April, championed action. Local and international speakers stressed, from the beginning, the importance of developing a green culture in business. Indeed, ‘strategy’ was the operative word here. Panellists and attendees alike discussed the benefits of implementing sustainability plans: namely, that they not only put more back into the environment but also bring long-term profitability and provide a shift in the ways we learn about climate change. Dr Michelle Dickinson, otherwise known as Nanogirl, was the greatest advocate for the latter, underlining the importance of changing the ways in which we have conversations about being more sustainable; these methods, she suggested, need to be less combative and more educative. Other proposed actions which unfurled from discussions on bringing about change included:…

PROJECT: Mercury HQ CLIENT: Mercury LOCATION: Auckland PROJECT TYPE: Workplace FLOOR AREA: 6,000m2 THE NEW Mercury headquarters building is an example of the ways in which architectural intervention can create a productive work environment by highlighting employee comfort as an integral part of its design. The new HQ exemplifies a successful workplace environment and illustrates how to employ sustainable building practices in an office building. Architectural firm Warren and Mahoney aimed to provide a home for innovation and collaboration, which is fostered by a sense of both community and care in the workplace. Since its establishment in 1994, Mercury has pioneered the renewable energy movement in New Zealand. Following a branding rethink in 2016, Mercury’s leadership considered it to be crucial to build a new HQ that epitomised its core values of ‘innovation, collaboration…

In this, our eighth year, Interior Awards has turned yet another few pages. To begin with… we have expanded our award categories to include residential interiors. This move became necessary as a result of the importance of the housing sector in so many aspects of contemporary New Zealand life, and as a realisation that interior professionals are regularly being asked to use spatial strategies, techniques, materials and more from the residential world in commercial spaces. Not only was this year a record-breaker in terms of the number of entries, it also boasted a very high, overall calibre of entries and finali ts. As you can see in the following pages, a few of the categories required four, rather than the usual three, finali ts in order to do justice to…

“… tenacity, passion for the industry and an innate understanding of the commercial imperatives of her work.” JURY COMMENT In a particularly strong and highly contested category, Kristen came to the fore, thanks to a combination of tenacity, passion for the industry and an innate understanding of the commercial imperatives of her work. Throughout her nascent career, Kristen has displayed a quietly driven attitude that has seen her: launch her own interior design business; develop a wide-ranging portfolio; employ fulltime, in-house staff; and maintain al this momentum while becoming a mother for the firt time. Kristen’s description of her designs for the Archant showroom hinted at a certain stylistic maturity while, at the same time, understanding her place within the client’s vision. She is definitely one to watch. DESIGNER KRISTEN…

What’s inspiring you at the moment? People! I’m fascinated by what makes a space work and how interiors influenc the way people behave. Otherwise, travel has always been a source of inspiration; I love getting lost in a foreign country with my camera. I recently became completely endeared to the South of France while visiting for a friend’s wedding. The French seem to have a knack for creating spaces that are insanely inviting, authentic and layered in material and texture. What re-energises you creatively? An invigorating workout, the ocean and laughs with my three-year-old nephew. There’s something rejuvenating about being transported into another realm through film. The composition, lighting, sound, use of colour – so good! I enjoy seeing how the backdrop of a movie builds the atmosphere and narrative…

DONI CLARKE Event Coordinator Originally from New Orleans, Louisiana, Doni has a Fine Arts degree in Ceramics. She coordinated our Interior Awards this year. IT’S YOUR LAST YEAR HERE. WHAT HAVE YOU ENJOYED MOST ABOUT ORGANISING THE INTERIOR AWARDS? I have loved being able to help bring together all of these really different interior spaces, projects and designers into one programme. Also, I enjoyed working to create a fun night to celebrate all of the hard work that went into all of these projects. WHICH OF THE INTERIORS THAT YOU HAVE WORKED WITH, HAS PARTICULARLY INTRIGUED YOU? I think, because of my fine arts background, the Harmos Horton Lusk project by Warren and Mahoney was one I was drawn to right away this year. The way the firms art collection…

Michele De Lucchi has been a prominent figure in the Italian design world since the 1970s, crafting architecture, furniture, lamps, appliances, office equipment and a variety of everyday products into bold, original and provocative designs. His work has always developed as a response to the current cultural and political conditions, questioning the status quo, seeking to provide happiness and always wanting to create a better world. Graduating from architecture school in the 1970s, De Lucchi entered the Italian design scene at a time when his contemporaries were challenging the constraints of modernism. He joined Studio Alchimia in 1978, and banded with Ettore Sottsass and other Milanese architects and designers to found Memphis Group in 1981. Favouring flashy and faddish over functional, Memphis created fresh and surprising designs with a distinctive…

PROJECT: Holiday Inn CLIENT: Cockpit International LOCATION: Auckland PROJECT TYPE: Hospitality FLOOR AREA: 5,000m2 “WE nicknamed it 50 shades of brown,” laughs Designworks senior spatial designer Erini Compton, before she and her crew took hold of it. The three-star hotel, referencing the dated and shabby state of the Holiday Inn decades and was in desperate need of a facelift. For the Singapore-based client, it was imperative the new design reflected a New Zealand look and feel, explains Compton. “When we did the Crowne Plaza in Christchurch, that client wanted guests to feel like they could be anywhere in the world: a real international flavour. For the Holiday Inn, it was the opposite; the hotel needed to feel like a contemporary, New Zealand place. So, we took a modern interpretation of New Zealand, using elements…

RICHARD HARRIS Director Richard Harris Architect Richard is an architect and an idiosyncratic collector of books, art, chairs and old ceramic tiles inspired by Islam. He is passionate about design, watercolours and land-yachting. Following a career leading one of New Zealand’s major design practices, he recently established Richard Harris Architect to provide clients with individual design and advisory services. In addition to his day job, Richard has held several leadership roles across the wider design sector. He is a Distinguished Fellow of the New Zealand Institute of Architects. DEIDRE BROWN Head of the University of Auckland School of Architecture and Planning Deidre is a professor and the Head of the School of Architecture and Planning at the University of Auckland where she has worked for the last 15 years,…

JURY COMMENT Edward Ge captured the judges’ attention with a poetic and highly emotive project. The Reconcile was born from a dilemma about where Edward’s family was to keep his late grandmother’s ashes: either in her homeland (China) or in her adopted home (New Zealand). From this, Edward devised a conceptual project aimed at bringing closure to migrant families who fin them selves in similar situations. He imagined a stunning building for a series of nonreligious, repatriation rituals where topography and the built environment work in tandem to carry through a metaphor of belonging and separation, of distance and home making. In an era constantly threatened by divisiveness along cultural lines, this project seeks the opposite: healing through interiors. The Reconcile was a project the judges wished to see come…

Chantel, what projects did you work on in London? Chantel Fisher (CF): One of the most exciting projects I worked on there was the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors in Westminster. It was a beautiful period building that needed a full renovation. After about six months of being at my job there, they threw me in as, basically, the lead designer. There were a few tears. Lots of late nights, too, but it was amazing and it’s where I found a love of period buildings and that kind of classic, timeless feel of design. To have a project in Westminster and have meetings there every day was inspiring. Kelly, tell us about your background. Kelly Rowe (KR): I studied architecture at Victoria University of Wellington and then went to Sydney.…

In a country where ‘black’ is a national badge of honour, how does colour fit in? People express themselves a lot more than with just their national colour. Over the different eras in our history, there have been different combinations of colour that have been popular. In the Victorian era, some quite strong colours were used. Colour isn’t for everyone and, currently, it’s easy to find new suburbs full of beige, creams and greys with maybe a brightly coloured door every now and then. Dark charcoal seems popular also. New Zealanders are also driven by practicality, which tends to mean lighter and plainer exterior colours, often with more richness and expression in the interiors. Colour expresses personality and freedom, and it is refreshing when people try something different. In 2018,…

PROJECT: Pic’s Peanut Butter World CLIENT: Pic’s LOCATION: Nelson PROJECT TYPE: Workplace FLOOR AREA: 3,500m2 PIC’S newly opened Peanut Butter World in Nelson’s Stoke region is a rare dyad. It is a gabled factory that is curiously playful, seeming less like a manufacturing facility and more like an oleaginous dream prompted by Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, with owner Pic Picot as its exuberant Willy Wonka – sans top hat and velvet coat. “Pic himself has an infectious enthusiasm for architecture and all things different and playful,” says Simon Hall, principal at Jerram Tocker Barron Architects, who designed the factory. “He also has a passion for the factory tours, so this became a focus for me: looking at how we could best celebrate the functions of the building in a whimsical way.” The results…

“Nanette’s prowess as an interior designer and educator has seen her work take on something of a legendary status, as if mythologised under the sheer weight of her enduring influence.” Much can be said for an individual who, by their own merit, has had an institution named after them. Nanette Cameron – whose moniker helps form The Nanette Cameron School of Interior Design – is one such person. Nanette’s prowess as an interior designer and educator has seen her work take on something of a legendary status, as if mythologised under the sheer weight of her enduring influence. Since she began her career in the 1950s, Nanette has inspired and helped define New Zealand’s interior design via both her school and her renowned body of work. Her Glenmore Road home…

Your company develops, among other things, mega malls in the Middle East and, interestingly, one has a ski slope. The whole concept of a ski slope in the desert, to me, sounds a bit like the antithesis of a sustainable strategy. How do you offset something that requires so much water, so much energy? It is not about offsetting; it is about doing the right thing, and about how you do it. I believe malls and developments are all over the world, so you’ll find an indoor mall, an indoor ski slope, in Europe. They have access to natural resources as well so why are they doing the same thing? The way we look at it, sustainability is embedded at the heart of everything we do and developing and creating…