Budapest, 23rd June 2008 – Patterson Associates scooped a Supreme Award for the Hills Clubhouse at Arrowtown as well as New Zealand Awards for the A.J. Hackett Bungy Centre near Queenstown and the Mai Mai house in Ponsonby, Auckland.
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The Auckland firm has been using Archicad for a decade, and director Andrew Patterson says it’s the sharpest tool in the box: “We just like it.”
The Hills Clubhouse is wedged bunker-like off the eighteenth hole at jewelry mogul Michael Hill’s private golf course near Arrowtown. Nick-named “the divot“, three-quarters of the building is below ground, and the roof is topped with tussock and turf.
Archicad’s comprehensive 3D modeling was key to the project’s success, say the architects. Modeling beams and steel structural elements increased efficiencies between the architects and engineers, and tolerances were often trimmed to less than a millimeter.
While Hill wanted the clubhouse to wow his guests as much as the course does, Patterson says the building is shaped so the eye can enjoy the surroundings. With bio-fuel heating and natural climate control, the clubhouse is a sustainable, unobtrusive building that oozes “New Zealandness“, says Patterson.
NZIA judges praised the structural engineering and reflective interiors in the “triumphant” nineteenth hole, saying the building shows a new level of confidence in concrete construction.