Here turns five in June. Five! And this year, we’re calling for entries to the fifth Here Awards. Fifth!
We’re quite excited about this, as you can probably tell. Running an awards programme always felt like something we had to do as a magazine: it shows we care about more than pretty pictures. When we started the awards, we wanted to celebrate architecture and we wanted to celebrate the physical experience of standing in the spaces – gaining insight you rarely get from photographs alone.
But there was more to the kaupapa than that. In starting the awards, as with starting the magazine, we wanted to seek out progressive, interesting architecture – architecture that was colourful, joyful and sensitive to its environment and context. We didn’t care if it was humble or if it was luxurious: we just wanted it to be good and we wanted it to have a point of view.
Looking back over four awards programmes, and now looking forward to the fifth, I’m delighted to see that the houses we’ve chosen have done that and more.
So far, we’ve visited luxurious rural houses on expansive pieces of land and small houses tucked into tiny pockets of our cities. We’ve awarded Best House Aotearoa to two new houses and two renovations. We’ve celebrated houses that cost millions to build and small projects that cost tens of thousands. What ties them together is intent – the intent to make something original, something surprising, something personal, something crafted and special. That’s what’s exciting about the Here Awards.
Last year, we adjusted the entry categories, narrowing them down to fewer categories and adding a new one. We’ve stuck with that format for this year. As with previous years, the rōpū will also be free to choose discretionary awards, which could include anything from interiors to sustainability.
Finally, I’d like to thank, most sincerely, our returning sponsors Città, Blum and Resene, all of whom have been on board with the awards for multiple years – it really means a lot to me and the team.
We can’t wait to see the entries for 2025.
Simon Farrell-Green
Publisher and Editor
Te Rōpū
Meet our rōpū — the panel of decision makers driving this year’s awards.
Mark Leong
With his wife and collaborator, ceramicist Lucy Coote, Mark won Best House Aotearoa 2024 for their home in Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington – a genre-defining villa renovation that is as much a piece of urban design as it is a home. Mark started his own practice, Studio Myla, on his return to Aotearoa in 2019, after almost a decade in Sydney where he worked on high-end houses and apartment blocks. He describes his work as seeking “sensitivity, generosity, urbanity, robustness and joy”. He is also a member of the cult Wellington band So So Modern.
Raphaela Rose
Raphaela is a director at ahha, one of Aotearoa’s best emerging architecture practices. Before that, she worked for RTA Studio and Jasmax in Tāmaki Makaurau, DHD in New York, and Susanna Torre in Spain. She has extensive experience working on projects as varied as master-planning for mixed-use developments and designing high-end homes. She is passionate about delivering robust design solutions while positively impacting the community and surrounding environments. She has described her work as “playful, ethereal and bold in its use of colour, with an undertone of glittering darkness that makes you question what you’re looking at”.
Simon Farrell-Green
Simon is the publisher and editor of Here, which he started in 2020 during a pandemic lockdown with a desire to make something progressive, different and real. He drives the cars, orders the drinks and carries the bags on the Here Awards judging tour.
The Awards
Entries open
Entry is online via our website thisishere.nz/awards and is open until 5pm Monday June 30. For further information, download an entry pack, or email us at hello@thisishere.nz with any questions.
2025 Dates
April: Call to entry
June 30: Entries close
September: Judging in person
October 24: Awards announced
Categories
New
Reuse and Renovation
Density
Small Project
Unbuilt
All finalists are eligible for Best House Aotearoa 2025
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