Innovation Award

This award recognises that transformation is happening in our sector and is awarded to the project that has taken an innovative approach and achieved a positive outcome. Innovation could be in the field of process, design, construction, materials or technology

H T M L Code
Innovation Award

Project: Mahana House Duplex

Entrant

Naylor Love Canterbury

Project Partners

Isthmus Architects (Architect/Designer), Naylor Love Canterbury (Construction Company), PTL Structural Consultants (Engineer)

Owned By

Ōtautahi Community Housing Trust

Otautahi Community Housing Trust (OCHT) provides warm and dry homes for people and families experiencing acute housing needs. The Trust sought a resource and time-efficient response to pressing community housing demand. Mahana House Glovers Road is duplex community housing built for the Trust to help families experiencing acute housing needs. The six, better-than carbon-neutral New Zealand Green Building Council Homestar homes, are environmentally friendly and maximise the space available. The homes are built to withstand the cold and be thermally efficient – meaning they’re cheaper for tenants to run, minimising household cost pressures for their tenants. What was unique about the project was that the building team worked closely with OCHT to tailor an existing solution to meet OCHT’s needs. This ensured the final design and buildings were appropriate for the site and fit for purpose.

Judges comments

Mahana House duplex was built for the Otautahi Community Housing Trust. It needed time and resourceefficient response to the pressing acute community housing demand. The six community houses have been built to help families for a “whole of life” option at a cheaper cost, which resulted in bringing a new product to the market. These New Zealand Green Building Council Homestar homes are better-than carbon-neutral, environmentally friendly and maximise the available space. They were built to withstand the cold and be thermally efficient, and have been designed to be low maintenance homes for those least able to afford them. Beautifully incorporating Maori design principles, the duplex was co-designed by Naylor Love and Shigeru Ban, the architect behind the Christchurch Transitional Cathedral, and built using large scale off-site fabrication.