And the winner is...

We're very pleased to announce that the winner of the Home of the Year 2010 is Stevens Lawson Architects for a home they designed beside Lake Wanaka. Congratulations to Nicholas Stevens and Gary Lawson for their third Home of the Year win in the 15 years of the competition. The Home of the Year issue is on newsstands on Monday.

BMW EfficientDynamics Sustainability Award

Since BMW joined us as our Home of the Year partner, we have introduced a new award as part of our Home of the Year coverage: the BMW EfficientDynamics Sustainability Award, which celebrates innovation and responsible use of resources in sustainable home design. This year's winners are Pete Ritchie and Bronwen Kerr, who designed this house in Arrowtown, which is featured in our Home of the Year issue, on newsstands Monday:

As their prize, Pete and Bronwen receive a six-month lease of a BMW 320d, a diesel-powered marvel of fuel economy (using just 5.3 litres of fuel per 100km, and with carbon emissions of just 140g per km). Congratulations Pete and Bronwen.

The last two finalists on Campbell Live

Here's the link to Campbell Live's footage from last night of the last two houses in this year's award.

Remaining finalists for Home of the Year unveiled - Campbell Live - Video - 3 News

We're announcing the winner of the Home of the Year award (and the BMW EfficientDynamics Sustainability Award) tonight at a function in Auckland. We'll post details on this site tonight, too.

Looking back at last year's award

If you're looking at David Mitchell and Julie Stout's house that is a finalist in this year's Home of the Year award in our earlier post, you might also like to check out their winning design from last year, the Home of the Year 2009 on Waiheke Island.

Waiheke retreat wins Home of the Year 2009 - Video Archive - Video - 3 News

This footage was screened on TV3's Sunrise breakfast programme, which we miss... it was shut down earlier this year.

Home of the Year - Part Two - Campbell Live - Video - 3 News

Part two of Campbell Live's coverage of the Home of the Year judging process was on TV3 last night - the story is at this link:

Home of the Year - Part Two - Campbell Live - Video - 3 News

There is one more episode of the judging journey to go to air before we announce the winner on Thursday July 27. And remember, the Home of the Year issue of the magazine is on newsstands August 2. Stay tuned!

Mandarin Oriental Barcelona



Mandarin Oriental Barcelona, the Mandarin Oriental’s first luxury hotel in Southern Europe located in the chic and central boulevard of Passeig de Gràcia. I thought it would be only good to see some pictures of its beautiful interior. This elegant building that previously used to house a bank comes alive with a full revival and beautiful interior design by Spanish designer, Patricia Urquiola.

The skylights and the hanging plants used in the lounge evoke a heavenly oasis.
 

Did I mention that this Hotel has a rooftop swimming pool where you can contemplate the beauty of Barcelona's famous architecture?

Campbell Live tonight

The kind folks at TV3's Campbell Live have just told us the second installment of their coverage of the Home of the Year finalists will be screening on tonight's show. We'll post a link to the footage on this site tomorrow if you missed seeing it live. UPDATE: Seems the footage didn't go to air last night - we were warned that there might be last-minute reshuffles, so hope you didn't stay home especially. We'll keep you posted about the next installments.

Home of the Year finalists

A little tease: here, we present to you an image of each of the finalists in this year's Home of the Year award. They're presented in no particular order - and remember, you have to hang on a while until we announce the winner on the evening of Thursday July 29.

We'll post news of the winner on this site that night, and it will also be announced on TV3's Campbell Live. HOME New Zealand's Home of the Year issue goes on sale August 2.

Thanks to our partners BMW - who admire good design as much as we do - the winning architects receive a $15,000 cash prize, making this New Zealand's richest architectural award.

This year we have six finalists. Unusually, two architects have two finalists each. The first of these is Daniel Marshall, who designed two houses on Waiheke Island. This one (shown below) is nestled in a bay at the island's eastern end, and was photographed by Simon Devitt.

And this one is on the northern side of the island, and was photographed by Patrick Reynolds.

The winners of last year's Home of the Year award, David Mitchell and Julie Stout of Mitchell & Stout Architects, have their own Auckland home (below) in this year's lineup of finalists. It was photographed by Patrick Reynolds.

Stevens Lawson Architects also have two homes in the finals. Both were photographed by Mark Smith. This one is a home on the shores of Lake Wanaka:

And this one is a home in east Auckland:

Finally, this home in Arrowtown was designed by Pete Ritchie and Bronwen Kerr of Queenstown's Kerr Ritchie Architects. It was photographed by Paul McCredie.

Which one do you think should win? Feedback is welcome...

Home of the Year - Part One - Campbell Live - Video - 3 News

Last night TV3's Campbell Live played the first of their coverage of the finalists in the Home of the Year award (we'll be announcing the winner at a function on the evening of July 29), proudly presented in conjunction with our partner BMW.

Campbell Live have been great supporters of the award for many years now, but this year they did things a little differently, following the judges (New York's Charles Renfro, Auckland's Ken Crosson, and me) on their journey around the country to see the homes. First up, two homes by Daniel Marshall on Waiheke Island.

Home of the Year - Part One - Campbell Live - Video - 3 News

All these homes will be published in our Home of the Year issue, on newsstands August 2.

A happy summer

Summer to me signifies relaxation and fun. Needless to say my sporadic posts since the prelude of summer. I intend to invest more on quality family time, on the beauty of a short New York summer and on a few family trips, instead of investing my spare time on searching and putting together blog posts. I apologize if this is of any inconvenience to my regular readers. Please expect posts just not as regular. All the best, Julie

Karl Maughan's studio

Artist Karl Maughan - whose paintings of exuberant gardens feature in some very important art collections around the world - creates his works in an exceptionally orderly studio/library in a converted garage at his Auckland home. Patrick Reynolds shot these images for our April/May2010 issue. They nicely capture Karl at work, as well as giving us a glimpse of his amazingly organised bookshelves.



In one corner of the room (seen in the image below), Karl has pinned several maps of the North Island together, a habit that began with a map of the Manawatu region where he grew up. The Chinese pagoda artwork is by James Kirkwood. Beside it, immediately beneath the map, is a work by Julian Dashper, with one of Karl's earlier works below that.

Karl has a particular enthusiasm for old children's books such as 'The Empire Annual for Boys'; his habit of collecting them began in the 1970s and has continued since, hence the bookshelves in his studio are stuffed with children's books published between 1850 and 1910.

He mixes his paints on a glass-topped table before applying them to his canvases. He didn't tidy the studio especially for the shoot - apparently it's always this neat.

Kamaka pottery

Our current issue includes a feature on vases, and while we like everything stylist Trudie Kroef sourced for the shoot (the photographs were taken by Toaki Okano), a particular favourite is the vase in the centre of this image, designed by the late Estelle Martin of Hawke's Bay's Kamaka pottery (the vase on the left is by Jonathan Adler from Askew, while the yellow bowl at right is by Campbell Hegan from Masterworks).

Estelle and her husband Bruce travelled frequently to Japan in the 1970s, where they learned the art of wood-fired anagama pottery. Their work has won many national awards and featured in major exhibitions. Bruce still lives in the couple's Hawke's Bay home (designed by John Scott), where he sells works of his own and Estelle's, and writes this blog. We featured Bruce and Estelle's West Coast bach (also by John Scott) in the magazine's December/January 2010 issue, and on our blog at this link here. If you're in Hawke's Bay, Bruce's studio is a very special place to visit.

Design Awards 2010

Congratulations to Jamie McLellan, the winner of our annual Design Awards for the second year running. Jamie's 'Flyover' table was originally commissioned for the New Zealand Room at last years Venice art biennale, and is now available through Simon James Design's 'Resident' label.

The table was made using powder-coated steel that flat-packs for each shipping. Our design awards judges, designer Humphrey Ikin and art dealer Michael Lett, praised its sleek form, elegant construction, bold colour, and its applicability to both commercial and domestic settings.

The artist is in

Our new series of stories inside artists' studios was the brainchild of photographer Patrick Reynolds, who was inspired by his artist brother John's new studio, designed by Auckland architect Malcolm Walker. The studio is in the back yard of John's Grey Lynn villa, a mono-pitch structure that tilts up to clerestory windows admitting cool southerly light. Some of the shots below feature in our current issue of the magazine.

At the other end of the studio from the view above is the large window shown in the shots below, with its Mondrian-inspired pane of blue glass and a view out to the nikau palms John planted when he first purchased the villa about 20 years ago.

It looks like a big space in these photographs, but John has quickly filled it, and since begun panicking just a little about how to stop his habit for accumulating things from taking over what was briefly a rather pristine space. The views of the studio below show the polycarbonate wall that admits more light into the space.

And here's the artist, toiling in his studio. John says he does some of his best work in there at nights, when he relishes the convenience of being able to slip into the studio after dinner and not have to leave the family as he did when he would traipse back to his old studio in downtown Auckland. He's also excited about the possibilities a custom-built studio (and its large door, which can admit much more than the small canvases John has been working on recently) can open up for his art. "I think it will take years to full extract the value, to try things that I haven't because I haven't had the right kind of space," he says.

We'll feature more images from the studio series in upcoming posts. Not all of them will be architectural marvels like John's studio, but we don't mind that, as we're most interested in the way artists occupy and work in their spaces. Feel free to let us know which artist's spaces you'd like us to look into, and we can check them out.

A Perfect beach house

When I think of a long weekend the first thing that comes to my mind is a comfy beach house where to escape. Since we can't go anywhere this weekend I can only dream of being in this gorgeous house designed by Tom Scheerer that has enchanted me since the first time I laid my eyes on it.

I love how the beauty of this house slowly reveals itself. As I keep looking at it I can notice the different colors and textures that at first are barely discernible due to the calmness in the colors. I also love how the playful patterns on the fabrics and wallpapers and the comfortable furniture make this house perfect for a family vacation home with a great degree of sophistication. As this house proves, a beach house doesn't have to lack grandeur.

Have a happy 4th of July weekend!!!

 

 

images from Tom Scheerer.