Architect Davor Popadich has claimed the highest honor in New Zealand's architecture community by winning the prestigious Sir Ian Athfield Award for Housing at the 2025 New Zealand Architecture Awards with his own family home. The Hahei project, located on the scenic Coromandel Peninsula, also secured an NZIA Housing Award and was recognized as the best new house in the country.
The judges praised the Popadich House for its sensitive and understated integration into the rural landscape setting. The home's L-shaped design enables it to adapt and respond naturally to its environment, while a separate studio completes the concept of a courtyard, creating a sheltered and recessed outdoor space. The house serves not only as a family residence but also as the operational base for two businesses.
The project demonstrates exceptional planning efficiency, with its design rigorously organized on a 600mm grid aligned with rafter spacings. This approach allows for cost efficiency while achieving a variety of spatial outcomes. Simple forms and a low-pitched roof with generous eaves create a modest scale that maintains a thoughtful relationship to the surrounding landscape. The interior features a relaxed atmosphere supported by detailed and crafted finishes, including custom wardrobe doors and drawer pulls.
Judges particularly appreciated the innovative approach to the garage, which is designed as a flexible, multi-functional space rather than solely for vehicle storage, reflecting the practical needs of modern family life. The crafted timber-lined interior establishes a strong connection to the rural landscape, which has been extensively planted to enhance the natural setting.
Three other projects also received NZIA Housing Awards. Bush Block, designed by Wellington-based Patchwork Architects, impressed judges despite facing a constrained budget, challenging site conditions, and a pre-approved building envelope. The house delivers both practical and poetic solutions through efficient planning and innovative materials. Designed to hover above the forest floor, the structure features an elevated walkway with a storage hut that replaces the traditional garage, enriching the arrival sequence with dual purpose.
Kaka Pod by Rafe MacLean Architects earned recognition as the second stage of a two-part holiday home development. This compact, triangular 60-square-meter home cleverly capitalizes on a previously underutilized corner of the site, positioning itself as a landscape element within an established native garden. The form follows the sloping topography, gently stepping down while curved corners soften its presence and relationship with the existing dwelling.
The fourth Housing Award winner, Openfield House by Keshaw McArthur and Matheson Whiteley in association, features an assured composition of stacked platonic forms that holds its ground against the vast landscape scale. A corrugated roof recalls the region's vernacular structures, while sculpted earth mounds both cradle and protect the house, settling it firmly into the foothills.
In the Housing - Alterations and Additions category, three projects received awards. Alberon by Jack McKinney Architects was praised for its clear separation of new and old elements, expressed through material choice and architectural detail. The two-story addition creates a lofty, open-plan living space with contemplative quality, seamlessly extending to a terraced garden through elegant giant steel doors.
Berhampore Perimeter House by Studio MYLA, featuring an addition to one of the Five Sisters houses in Rintoul Street, Wellington, successfully integrates new with old while maintaining distinct identities for each. The judges praised how the addition engages with the site's perimeter and provides a rare urban edge to the street in its suburban setting.
The third Alterations and Additions winner, Wainui Church Conversion by Warren and Mahoney Architects and Objects in association, represents a respectful yet inventive transformation of a church into a family holiday home. The conversion champions sustainable adaptive reuse while honoring the integrity of the original church's construction and maintaining its exterior identity within its original context.
The 2025 New Zealand Architecture Awards ceremony took place in Christchurch on November 20, 2025, recognizing 29 projects across 11 categories. Winners were selected from a shortlist of 61 projects that had previously won Local Architecture Awards in eight regions across New Zealand earlier in the year. The awards represent the pinnacle of architectural achievement in the country, celebrating innovative design, sustainability, and cultural sensitivity in contemporary New Zealand architecture.
