Design award for Tara Iti c lubhouse

 

BY JULIA WADE

One of Mangawhai’s most exclusive grand designs has recently collected an architectural award, winning the prize due to its welcoming and relaxing structural environment. 

From a list of 107 entries across Northland and Auckland, Tara Iti Clubhouse was announced the winner of a hospitality award at the Auckland Architectural Awards (AAA) ceremony held at MOTAT Aviation Hall on May 9. 

The win means Tara Iti will also be eligible to be shortlisted for the New Zealand Architecture Awards in November.

Designed by American company Cheshire Architects and Herringbone Interiors, the ‘modest and understated clubhouse’ has been previously described as a fusion of American and New Zealand comfort ideals, ‘unobtrusively sunk within the dunes, it shelters and blends in with a unique sense of elegance’.

This years jury convenor and award-wining architect, Rick Pearson of New Zealand architectural firm Pearson & Associates, evaluated the projects along with four peers and says they were impressed with Tara Iti’s ‘compact building footprint… which minimised the impact on the surrounding sand dunes’.

"Refreshingly restrained and intimate, the clubhouse nestles into the landscape, aided by a limited palette of immaculately detailed materials," Pearson said. “This is a welcoming environment, perfectly scaled and encouraging of relaxed occupation."

Two other Northland homes also received awards, ‘Fe304’ in Taiharuru, east of Whangarei, and Northland Lake House in Omamari, on the west coastline by Bayleys Beach. 

Tara Iti general manager Matt Guzik says the owners and management are ‘very honoured and proud of the award’. 

“It has been a privilege to work with Pip Cheshire of Cheshire Architects and his team along with Jeffery and Phillip of Herringbone who collectively provided the incredible hardware,” he says. “However what actually made the difference was the phenomenal software of the local contractors and our own employees.”

 Read more from the judges at architecturenow.co.nz/articles/2018-auckland-architecture-awards

“It’s such a soulful piece of land that required a structure working in harmony with this special terrain, not battling it,” clubhouse architect Pip Cheshire says. “We wanted it to be an anchor amidst the dunes and waving grasses, perfectly at home in its beautiful setting.” 
(PHOTOS/Joann Dost)