Dulux Colour Awards 2023
Single Residential Exterior
This category recognises the best use of exterior Dulux colour on any building used as a private single residence.
Single Residential Exterior Winner
Fabric
Nightlight, Akaroa, New Zealand
About
Nightlight fills a small gap in a historic clearing of the kānuka belt wrapping around the town of Akaroa in Banks Peninsula, New Zealand.
The polycarbonate structure enveloped in a lattice of timber with the beautifully soft matt Duralloy® Pale Eucalyptus colour from the Dulux Powder Coatings' Duralloy® Solid Colour range mimics the surrounding kānuka trees.
The building was built to provide services and tool storage for the architect/owners' while they regenerate the land and build their forever home. Once that home is complete, this structure will slot into and enhance its surroundings, rather than detract from them.
The use of powder-coated steel enabled refined flashings and custom-crafted screens, windows and a surface slider. Tying these elements together simplified the material palette, therefore increasing the elegance of this functional building.
What the judges said...
“A kernel of delight set into the landscape of the Banks Peninsula in New Zealand, this modest structure demonstrates the way a subtle incorporation of colour, applied with constraint, can have a powerful effect. In spite of its utility as a services and storage shed, the polycarbonate structure enveloped in timber lattice has been elevated to become a sophisticated light sculpture with timeless relevance, well integrated into the landscape,” says judge Sarah Carney. “Undoubtedly, it asks a lot from one colour, which gives us more reason to commend the choice of Pale Eucalyptus, as it sits so comfortably with the structural timbers and myriad greens of the surrounding bush. The result is calm and sincere, striking an organic balance between form and function.”