MEDIA RELEASE

Thursday 17 October 2013

Mackelvie Street ‘head turner’ wins top architecture award

Ponsonby’s Mackelvie Street Shopping Precinct has won a Commercial Architecture award at the 2013 Auckland Architecture Awards.

More than 300 people celebrated the ‘best of the best’ of Auckland’s architectural work, from residential and commercial to public and school buildings, at Shed 10, downtown Auckland last night.

The winning shopping site, which sits between Pollen and Mackelvie Streets with frontages on Ponsonby Road, was designed by RTA Studio and is owned by Samson Corporation. The other award winners in the Commercial category are ANZ Centre by Warren and Mahoney Architects, and Special Building, designed by McKinney + Windeatt Architects.

Judges comments about Mackelvie Street include:

“Succinctly referencing the scale and decoration of the Victorian and Edwardian shops in the neighbourhood, this lacy insertion into the fabric of Ponsonby is a real head-turner. Prodding heritage into a lively present, the precinct offers a future-proofed happy marriage of fashion and food.”

The win comes just two weeks after Mackelvie Street picked up a Highly Commended Award in the very competitive Shopping category at the World Architecture Festival in Singapore.

RTA Studio Director Rich Naish says it’s very satisfying to see the building achieving recognition at a local and global level.

“We set out to make a building that felt comfortable in the context of Ponsonby’s history, the now and the future. We think it has a familiar scale and proportion that people can relate to in the context of Ponsonby,” he says.

Samson Corporation General Manager Marco Creemers says Mackelvie Street is an extremely stylish, charming building that’s light and airy with a scale that reflects local street shopping, making it friendly and approachable.

“It’s a great feeling to know that your everyday expectations are achieving such high accolades,” he says.

The Mackelvie Street Shopping Precinct is now eligible to enter the 2014 New Zealand Architecture Awards which will be announced in May.

ENDS

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