News Article

Coast Wins Major Architecture Award

Posted: 09/11/2010

The stunning design of Coast's landmark Papamoa building has seen it win its second major award in less than a month.

The cedar-clad sales pavilion (pictured below) at the centre of Coast Papamoa Beach’s residential development has won the Commercial Architecture category at the 2010 Waikato Bay of Plenty Architecture Awards.

Coast Papamoa Beach also won the People’s Choice award in this year’s NZ Wood Timber Design Awards announced in Wellington on October 11.

The twin level sales pavilion was designed by leading Bay firm Ambienti Architects and will one day be transformed into a professional office space and community café.

The judging panel was impressed with the “flexible” sales office, saying it was an innovative approach in designing marketing offices and a showroom.

“Externally, the choice of cedar rain screens and glass, combined with vertical cedar wings and moveable louvers, create an ever-changing play of light and shade over the façades. Crisp, clean lines and well-balanced volumes complement the simplicity of the structure.”

Coast Papamoa Beach Director Steve Short says there are no other architecturally-designed commercial spaces like it in the area.

"The building is an inspirational space to work in and feels like a modern art gallery inside.  I’d particularly like to thank Ambienti Architects who met our brief to design a contemporary, durable building that blended in well with the beach environment.”

Frasers Property, the international developers behind Coast Papamoa Beach, is known for its visionary architecture. Short says they have recognised Tauranga’s changing demographics and the global trends for intensification and have responded with leading edge, sustainable design.

The New Zealand Architecture Awards celebrates the innovation, creativity and excellence of architectural projects nationwide. The 42 entries received for the Waikato Bay of Plenty division were judged against a series of key criteria including their contribution to the advancement of architecture as a discipline and enhancement of the human spirit.

Coast Papamoa Beach’s sales pavilion is now eligible for consideration for a prestigious New Zealand Architecture Award, to be decided by a national jury, including an overseas judge, in early 2011.

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