This year is a special one for the Here Awards: as well as being the fifth anniversary of the magazine, it’s the fifth awards – which feels like a milestone worth celebrating.
We started the Here Awards less than a year after starting the magazine, with a simple kaupapa: to encourage and celebrate thoughtful, innovative architecture. We were less interested in the heroic and the grand, and far from interested in empty architectural statements.
We were, though, interested in houses that seemed to think about their place in the world – whether that was with a small intervention or a large one. As we’ve always said, we’re interested in luxury and humility – as long as it’s good.
Looking over our previous Best House Aotearoa winners – along with the various finalists and category winners – I’m delighted by what’s emerged. There’s no one sensibility at play, and no one typology: we’ve awarded expansive new houses and a small, low-budget utility shed; there have been some striking renovations and some excellent examples of density.
We’ve tweaked the categories over the years, too, refining them to five key categories – New House, Reuse and Renovation, Density, Small Project and Unbuilt – as well as discretionary awards.
One thing hasn’t changed: we ask a rōpū of architects and designers to join us on the road, judging the houses in real time. This year, we’re excited to welcome Mark Leong – winner of Best House Aotearoa 2024 – and Raphaela Rose, of the regenerative architecture studio ahha. We’ll meet in a couple of weeks to choose our shortlist – and then in September we’ll get on the road. Can’t wait.
2025 Dates
June 23: Entries close
September: Judging
October 27: Awards announced
Here Awards 2025
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The Winners so Far...
2021: Super Taper by Jack McKinney Architects
McKinney’s design for a south-facing villa on an inner-city site revolved around an ethereal 70-square-metre addition topped by a skylight which tracked sun through the day, with earthy interiors by designer Katie Lockhart.
2022: Waimataruru by Kristina Pickford Design and Pac Studio
This environmentally minded house is deceptively simple, yet the experience of the space is complex. The views are stunning, but they’re not overbearing. A rich interior mixes modern and historic influences with a faintly Japanese air.
2023: Poppa's Palace by Oli Booth Architecture
Squeezed into a tight corner between a public carpark, a pedestrian walkway and a character zone sits a small house for Pete – a retired vet – and his dog Sheba. With every possible constraint, Booth created a cleverly organised, light-filled home.
2024: Berhampore Perimeter House by Studio Myla
As much a piece of urban design as it is a family home for architect Mark Leong and ceramicist Lucy Coote, this genre-defining villa renovation is a sleek piece of design with the edges knocked off: architecture combined with craft.
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