Dulux Colour Awards 2024
New Zealand Student
This category celebrates excellence in paint specification by architecture or interior design students who are currently undertaking or have recently completed (within the past 12 months) a course by a recognised university or college.
New Zealand Student Winner
Beth Williams
Victoria University of Wellington
Keeper of My Memories
About the project
The Keeper of My Memories is an architectural colour fantasy based on Beth Williams' childhood daydreams. It centres around a house and its seven occupants over decades with colour used to identify each person and influence the architecture.
What the judges said
"It is an utterly captivating virtual world. Its almost-psychedelic colour combinations are unique to each inhabitant, including a boat builder, dressmaker and stargazer, to name but three, and span the breadth of the Dulux colour offering.
"Williams explains that each distinct palette aids the world-building of the characters and was influential in crafting the dreamscapes. The ensuing dreamscapes are unashamedly whimsical and truly celebrate the idea that memories and our imaginary worlds could be rendered architecturally. They are wildly vibrant, and it is quite extraordinary to see colour used in this way."
Sarosh Mulla, judge.
Keeper of My Memories
The cool colours of the house introduce our first characters, the Boat Builder and the Dressmaker in 1851. Their dream home reflects their lives through the ocean-scape where miniature ships sail across the floors. The home is painted with a collage of cool tones. The bathroom is decked with hues of blue tiles, supplemented by sink and bathtub painted in light green.
The bedroom in the 1851 home of the Boat Builder and the Dressmaker takes a warmer purple undertone complemented with blues.
Next, the house is transformed with bursts of warm oranges and yellows as the Lepidopterist and the Gardner inherit the home in 1911. Their love of nature and butterflies is highlighted by the bright colours in the Butterfly Parlour.
Warm yellows provide the undertone of The Garden (pictured) and Butterfly Parlour (previous) with a deep orange accentuating each scene, supplemented by the lighter orange.
The house is renovated with dashes of pinks and purples in 1965 by the Stargazer. Her love of astrology adorns the walls with constellations. The Stargazer adds handrails and stairs painted in a combination pink and purple.
Hues of green and pink scatter the walls of the Modelmaker’s two workshops in 1972. Here she begins her animation studio. Her workshops are a gateway to a miniature world.
The Modelmaker’s workshops use striped flooring and furniture alternating between the pink and greens.
The cool colours of the house introduce our first characters, the Boat Builder and the Dressmaker in 1851. Their dream home reflects their lives through the ocean-scape where miniature ships sail across the floors. The home is painted with a collage of cool tones. The bathroom is decked with hues of blue tiles, supplemented by sink and bathtub painted in light green.
The winning palette
Dulux Colour Awards 2024 category winners
Explore how the winners brought to life the innovative use of colour in residential, commercial and public spaces.
Dulux Colour Awards 2024
Our finalists
View the 83 projects from designers and architects selected as this year's finalists from a record 527 entries across eight categories.