The redeveloped Oamaru Opera House has been praised in the 2010 Southern Architecture Awards.
The project by William Ross Architects was commended in the public architecture category of the awards, which were announced yesterday.
"The Opera House redevelopment has reclaimed an almost unusable building, creating a magnificent community asset for performance, functions and events," the judges said.
"The new backstage facilities wing with its two-storeyed glazed atrium makes a tour de force of the old Oamaru stone wall it abuts; the conserved original building sits comfortably alongside the confidently detailed modern elements. The interior fit-out skilfully complements the iconic architecture."
Public architecture citations were also awarded to the Orokonui Ecosanctuary visitor centre by Architectural Ecology Ltd and the Frankton bus shelter and public toilets by Mary Jowett Architects.
The ecosanctuary was described as "an astonishingly elegant work ... achieved from a simple brief and modest budget" and the bus shelter as "a flagship facility that earns the respect of its users".
The redevelopment of the new NHNZ building in Dunedin by Baker Garden Architects won a commercial architecture citation.
The judges said the project had transformed "a jaded industrial building, providing a new home for a global leader in the film industry".
Other commercial architecture winners were the Wyuna boat shed at Glenorchy, by Crosson Clarke Carnachan Chin Architects.
Residential architecture awards were presented to an Albert Town house and a Northburn Peninsula house by McCoy and Wixon Architects; an Arrowtown house by Kerr Ritchie; a Ross Creek, Dunedin, house by Mason and Wales Architects; a Kelvin Heights, Queenstown house by Athfield Architects; QT Haus in Queenstown by Richard Priest Architecture; Te Kaitaka, a Lake Wanaka retreat by Stevens Lawson Architects; and Waite House in Wanaka by Rafe Maclean Architects.
The William James Building and the Microbiology Building at the University of Otago, by Architectural Ecology and Opus Architecture respectively, won awards for sustainable architecture.
The judges were Queenstown architect Michael Wyatt, Dunedin architectural graduate Hannah Sharp, Dunedin heritage consultant Elizabeth Kerr and Dunedin architect Chris Doudney.
The awards are organised by the New Zealand Institute of Architects.
