Newsflash! We're thrilled that nine Britomart-based projects are winners at this week's 2022 Best Design Awards.
The team at Cheshire Architects may struggle to find room for the multiple 'Pins' (Best Awards trophies) for their design work on The Hotel Britomart, Tuawhiti Lane and the restaurants around it. The heftiest one is the Gold Pin in the Spatial Design - Hospitality category, which encompasses the full breadth of their architectural work, urban design and what the judges call "exquisite interiors", which, when combined, "continue to raise the bar of design excellence in the area."
Another Gold Pin goes to Cheshire Architects for the way they celebrate natural timbers in kingi, the restaurant beside The Hotel Britomart, from its polished, raw-edged bartop and refinished original floor to the wood stacked high around the open fireplace.
A third Gold Pin recognises Cheshire Architects' design for The Libraries, The Hotel Britomart's intimate event spaces in the heritage Masonic Buckland Buildings, where the judges note that "thoughtful art, beautifully curated objects, a dramatic wine cellar, exquisite lighting pieces and a powerful chandelier" create an inviting space where guests can "almost smell the burnt timber, feel the curved concrete and brick columns" and hear the pop of an opening wine bottle.
More awards! The elegantly relaxed, plant-filled environment at Michael Meredith's restaurant Mr Morris and moody, rustic subterranean eatery Ghost Street earn Cheshire Architects two more Gold Pins, which they round out with a Bronze Pin for their reimagined French-Vietnamese feel for Cafe Hanoi's new location.
Design agency Inhouse is the winner of a Gold Pin for dreaming up The Hotel Britomart's overall brand identity, with the judges praising the way the window pattern from the hotel facade is used as a core design element. The agency's signage and graphic wayfinding design within the hotel also scores its own Gold Pin for Environmental Graphic Design.
Finally, both a Gold and Purple Pin (the Supreme Award) goes to the large team behind the graphic identity for Toi Tū Toi Ora: Contemporary Māori Art, last year's landmark exhibition at Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki and in Britomart, where permanent works by Lonnie Hutchinson, Shane Cotton and Lyonel Grant and Tim Gruchy are a legacy of that show.
Tyrone Ohia and his team at the design firm Extended Whānau are praised by the judges for creating work that is "world class... a redefining piece of design that pushes NZ design forward".
We applaud all this year's Best Design winners, and are honoured to showcase their work in Britomart's nine blocks.
