Winners of the NZIA Graphisoft Student Design Awards propose cheeky, fresh ideas for Auckland

From super brothels, off-shore oil rigs, and outward-leaning buildings, clever ideas are a-plenty with the winners of the latest New Zealand Institute of Architects (NZIA) Graphisoft Student Design Awards.

Fifth and final-year students from New Zealand's three architecture schools -- University of Auckland, Victoria University, and Unitec -- submitted proposals for a chance to win the award and a handy sum of $5,000.

Out of 12 presentations, the judges awarded one winner and two Highly Commended proposals.

Check out the winning and finalist proposals below.

Winner: Raphaela Rose, University of Auckland School of Architecture and Planning
Project: "Sex(uality) and the City: Counteracting the Cock-ups of Auckland’s Main Strip"

Description: "This project was provoked by two events in Auckland’s sexual history: the Prostitution Reform Act 2003 and plans for the Chow Brothers’ ‘Super Brothel’ in the heart of the city. What impact do these events have on the social ecology of Auckland and what does the changing perception of sexuality and sexual economy mean for the built environment? This project proposes a smaller-scale city, a ‘speculative archipelago’ comprised of 13 individual buildings. Each addresses the symbolic significance of different issues occurring in the sexualised body politic of Auckland city, while formally, each building responds to its respective situation. In oscillations between spectacular, primitive and refined, these buildings allow a voyeuristic gaze to fall upon politically defined architectural forms."

Judges' Citation: "Architecture is cleverly and gainfully employed as a satirical tool in this mischievous project. The scenario calls for the city blocks containing the Sky Tower, casino and proposed new super-brothel to be surrounded by a fun park themed by recent local sex scandals. The result is a joyful, rollicking series of attractions, each of them like an exquisitely and wittily conceived fable. Beneath that sugar-coating, a subversive message filters through, undermining the current environment that has been foisted upon the city."

Highly Commended: Nathan Swaney, University of Auckland School of Architecture and Planning
Project: "Extraction Lands and the Permanence of Production"

Description: "This design forms part of a wider discussion on how we have become reliant on the landscapes that provide for us. In extraction lands – oil fields, mines, and quarries – what role does architecture play once the resource is depleted? This project’s context is Taranaki, with New Plymouth on a finite timeline thanks to oil and gas extraction. The proposed Seafarer’s Centre and Shipbreaking Yard has three main aims: to find alternative futures for the machinery once used in this process of extraction from the earth; to recycle some of the material produced by extraction efforts; and to attempt to re-engage the transient and disconnected operations of a reclaimed wharf site with the local community"

Judges' Citation: "Offshore oil and gas rig hardware, salvaged and recycled as a ship-break - ing yard, is this project’s guiding idea. The scope is expansive and heroic. The themes of industrial decay and rebirth – as well as waterfront habitation – are convincingly juxtaposed."

Highly commended: Alexander (Sacha) Milojevic, University of Auckland School of Architecture and Planning 
Project: "Newmarket Campus as a Porous Megaform"

Description: 'The impetus for this project is the University of Auckland’s replacement of two outer-suburb cam - puses with a new 5.2ha campus on the site of the old Lion Nathan Brewery in Newmarket. The design is conceptualised as a dense and porous aggre - gation of overlapping places that are carefully excavated and geological in form. There are places for singular and group learning amongst ramps and roof terraces; there are shared spaces, retail opportunities, and places for transportation. The aim of this ‘special place apart’ is to be different from the rest of the city, yet contribute good urban design through built-in permeability."

Judges' Citation: "Created with intelligence and intuition, this project offers a vision of an educational community, conceived in an organic manner from a series of single rooms outwards. It recognises the ‘world apart’ quality great universities share, yet does not ignore its urban context. Every part of this deftly presented scheme exudes a sense of passion for architecture."

Images courtesy of the NZIA Graphisoft Student Design Awards

Click the thumbnails below to see the Finalist projects.