Building and Construction Minister Maurice Williamson says a nationwide design competition for ‘starter homes’ “shows that innovative and affordable homes are a realistic option for New Zealanders”. 

The competition, organised by the Department of Building and Housing, aimed to encourage architects, designers, and those in the building industry, to come up with innovative and affordable solutions which show what can be achieved with limited resources.

“The competition has shown that starter homes can offer superb design as well as being affordable to build,” Mr Williamson says.

Some 140 entries were received, which were then short-listed down to ten finalists by the judging panel.

The overall winning home design was by Stephen Smith from S3 Architects Ltd in Auckland.  It will be built in Mangere by the Housing New Zealand Corporation and showcased to the public.

The convenor of the judging panel, leading New Zealand architect Gordon Moller, says the overall winning design has a striking contemporary appearance, which means it will fit well into the local environment.

“It is a carefully planned design that will make an excellent starter home.”

The design competition had two categories from which the supreme winner was chosen: Category One in which designs had to adhere to the parameters contained in the Department’s proposed design document for Simple Housing, and Category Two which allowed for innovative application of the parameters.

Tony Koia of Koia Architects Ltd from Queenstown was the winner in Category One, and Stephen Smith was the winner of Category Two.

Wellington architect John Wright was runner-up in Category One, and James Raimon of Archimedia Ltd in Auckland was runner up in Category Two.

Another Category Two entrant, Geoff Walker of Image Architecture Ltd in Blenheim, was highly commended by the judges.

Katrina Bach, the Department of Building and Housing’s Chief Executive, said the Department will use the ideas generated by this competition to inform and improve the design guidelines for Simple Housing.

The judging panel was led by Gordon Moller and included the head of the Victoria University School of Architecture, Professor Gordon Holden.  Representatives from the Registered Master Builders Federation, the Certified Builders Association of New Zealand, Community Housing Aotearoa, BRANZ, and Housing New Zealand Corporation were also on the panel.

For more information visit www.dbh.govt.nz/starterhome