There’s no greater accolade than that from a client, but second best must be when your designs are selected by an audience with an interest in architecture, but no agenda. That’s what happened when Two Sheds (which you can read more about here….) earned the 2026 Readers’ Choice Home of the Year Award, run by HOME NZ magazine.
Editor Clare Chapman says we took out the coveted prize with an overwhelming majority. “It’s a clear reflection of the project’s resonance with readers across the country. Set against the dramatic landscape of Queenstown, the home’s restrained material palette, elemental form and deeply considered connection to environment struck a chord, earning thousands of votes and securing its place as this year’s clear public favourite,” she says.
Honest feedback from peers is powerful too, of course. The annual NZIA Awards season gives us plenty of that. Two Sheds along with the Living House, MTG Hawke’s Bay Museum Research & Archives Centre, Hawke’s Bay Airport fire station and The Loft at Craggy Range all got a mention in the NZIA Regional Architecture Awards. We were pleased to be acknowledged across residential, public and hospitality categories. They commented on our storage facility for taonga in the MTG project saying, it “strengthens Hastings’ sense of identity and community pride”, mentioned that the tilted roofline and restrained materials used at the regional airport fire station had a “calm, confident presence”, and called The Loft at Craggy Range, “a refined, immersive dining experience”, a sentiment echoed internationally in the Architizer A+ Awards, who shortlisted The Loft in the Restaurants category. But perhaps our most valued accolade, because we believe it serves a real need, was reserved for the Living House prototype in Rotorua, of which the judges remarked: “This modular housing system is a strong new option for affordable housing.”
We couldn’t have said it better ourselves.