Hotel awarded for artful blend of casual luxury

The exterior of the Ebb-Dunedin incorporates a grand-scale art piece by Dunedin artist Simon Kaan. Photo: Peter McIntosh

Dunedin boutique hotel Ebb-Dunedin received two national architecture awards last night, for its luxurious design and art.

Designed by Dunedin-based Gary Todd Architecture and located in central Dunedin, Ebb’s design won both the Sir Miles Warren award for commercial architecture and the New Zealand Architecture Award at the Te Kahui Whaihanga New Zealand Architecture Award, with praise for its "casual luxury" and incorporation of a grand-scale art piece by Dunedin artist Simon Kaan.

Casual luxury is how judges described Ebb-Dunedin’s interior spaces. Photo: Supplied

The art piece covers the front glass curtain wall of the boutique hotel, featuring Mr Kaan’s depiction of Otago Harbour with waka motifs central to his artwork.

Judges weighed in from around the country and abroad, commenting on the boutique hotels usage of Mr Kaan’s art in its street-facing glass facade, which functions as a privacy screen and light sculpture, as well as a public installation with cultural and historical connections to Dunedin.

Works of art line the hallways that surround the open central space. Photo: Supplied

The Te Kahui Whaihanga New Zealand Architecture Awards announced the winner in Christchurch last night, and included 47 finalist submissions from around the country in a variety of fields such as education buildings, housing designs and public architecture.

This is not the first awards ceremony for the boutique hotel, as it also won another award this year for the glass facade featuring Mr Kaan’s art, winning the top award at the Window and Glass Association New Zealand’s awards.

The airy atrium of Hotel Ebb-Dunedin, which has won two more national awards for its layout and look. Photo: Supplied

Judges for the Window and Glass Association described the building as a showcase of the multiple capabilities of glass, realised through an apparently seamless sequence of good decisions in design, fabrication and installation.

Ebb-Dunedin opened in Filleul St last year and includes unconventional designs such as a shared pedestrian walk-through at street level, and protected central atrium from which rooms branch out.

rowan.sinclair@odt.co.nz