Te Kāhui Whaihanga NZ Institute of Architects’ Auckland area awards: Te Arai dune house a winner

An exclusive flyover of the second hole at Te Arai Links North Course, set to open in October. Video / Ricky Robinson ...

Listen to this article — Te Kāhui Whaihanga NZ Institute of Architects' Auckland area awards: Te Arai dune house a winner

Some of Auckland’s best new homes won architecture awards tonight, including one set among dunes at the Te Arai golf course near Mangawhai, north of the city.

Architecture firm Monk Mackenzie won a Te Kāhui Whaihanga NZ Institute of Architects residential award for designing the new Palimpsest House near the sea.

Palimpsest house at Te Arai north of Auckland designed by Monk Mackenzie who on April 30, 2025 won an Auckland area award from Te Kahui Whaihanga New Zealand Institute of Architects. Photo / Monk Mackenzie

Neither the architects nor the institute said who owns the house.

Palimpsest House at Te Arai by Monk Mackenzie. Photo / Hamish Monk

“This single-storey private residence occupies the threshold between a stand of new-growth pines and an expansive dunescape.

The finished Palimpsest House near the sea at Te Arai north of Auckland, which won an NZIA Auckland area award on April 30, 2025. Photo / Monk Mackenzie

“In response to the open, windswept site, the building is conceived conceptually as a single monolithic stratum, pushed low to the ground and hovering just above the surface of the sands,” the architects say.

Architects Monk Mackenzie won an Auckland residential award for what they call Palimpsest House at Te Arai. Photo / Hamish Monk

Separately, the Herald reported in March how plans were approved for an entity linked to Rod Drury to build a partly-sunken home with a guesthouse, pool and surf shed among sand dunes at Te Arai.

Those designs are also by award-winning Monk Mackenzie.

Plans for the front entry of the consented house at Te Arai, as shown in the application to Auckland Council. A Rod Drury entity won consent for this new home.

That planned new home is to be built near the $200 million South Pacific golfing paradise.

NZIA awards tonight also went to Hobsonville Point’s new $150 million Catalina Bay apartments, the SeaLink Wynyard Ferry Terminal in the CBD and the interior of new hotel Horizon by SkyCity.

All up, 36 awards were announced.

Developer Willis Bond's managing director David McGuinness at the Catalina Bay apartments at Hobsonville Point. Photo / Jason Oxenham

Jury convenor Guy Tarrant said: “This year’s awards highlight the value architects bring to projects in response to constraints of site, size and budget”.

“These were all drivers for exceptional outcomes and a testament to the ability of architects to turn challenges into opportunities.”

Winning projects also highlighted architects’ continued commitment to exploring affordable housing solutions, featuring intelligent planning and innovative uses of new and sustainable materials, Tarrant said.

Pocket Houses by Dorrington Atcheson Architects won an Auckland area architectural award in April, 2025. Photo / Simon Wilson

He cited the Pocket Houses project by Dorrington Atcheson Architects. The architects had come up with a viable backyard housing model that challenged accepted norms of multi-unit housing design, he said.

The Catalina Bay Apartments were praised for using the protected view shaft of a nearby trig station as the catalyst for a fragmented, stepped form that elegantly engaged its waterfront setting.

Auckland's SeaLink Wynyard Ferry Terminal by Architectus won an Auckland area award.

Category award winners

Commercial

Education

The pool complex at Auckland University's new Hiwa Recreation Centre.

Heritage

Grey Lynn toilets won an Auckland architecture award. Photo / Mark Smith

Housing

Palmers Beach house, Aotea Great Barrier, won an Auckland architecture award. Photo / Chris Morton

Housing: alterations, additions

Additions and alterations to this Grey Lynn house won a 2025 Auckland architecture award. The project was called 'light catcher' by architect Jose Gutierrez. Photo / Sam Hartnett

Housing: multi-unit

The private dining room at One Saint Stephens, new apartments beside the cathedral in Parnell.

Inside one of the luxurious rooms at the InterContinental Auckland. Tardis-like minibar far right. Photo / Dean Purcell

Interior architecture

Onyx Bar inside the new Horizon by SkyCity hotel in Auckland - part of Gordon Moller's art work Transcendance can be seen on the wall behind the bar. Photo / Michael Craig

Small project architecture

The Point apartments, 121 Customs St West faces on to Auckland's waterfront. Photo / Sandra Mu, Getty Images

Enduring architecture

The awards panel was Guy Tarrant, Andrea Bell from bell + co in Dunedin, Katrina Keshaw from Keshaw McArthur, Elspeth Gray from Roberts Gray Architects, and Jasper van der Lingen from Sheppard & Rout in Christchurch.

Anne Gibson has been the Herald‘s property editor for 25 years, written books and covered property extensively here and overseas.