| 79 ARCHITECTURE Gibbons Architects - Clelands: Toitū House Fresh paint since 1956 Commercial | Industrial | Residential Decades of experience, with the highest level of workmanship makes Grays Painting Contractors the company for your next project. 0800 127 246 admin.hawera@graypainters.co.nz www.graypainters.co.nz 06 751 1509 | office@heatcooltaranaki.co.nz | www.heatcooltaranaki.co.nz tele: (06) 757 5707 web: www.tel.org.nz ‘Proud to be associated with Gibbons Architects, Clelands Constuction & Toi Foundation’ For all your Electrical, Solar & Air Conditioning designs, installations, Inspections & Maintenance, General Electrical Servicing & Maintenance, TV, Aerial Installations & Electronic repairs & Maintenance & Testing & Tagging on & off site. ELECTRICAL, SOLAR & ELECTRONIC SERVICES & REPAIRS “YOUR ONE STOP SERVICES SHOP” SEANZ ACCREDITED T T Virginia Wright Diverse firm works across many sectors Gibbons Architects won the 2026 NZIA (New Zealand Institute of Architecture) Western Architecture Award, Commercial category, for New Plymouth’s Toitū House. The husband-and-wife team behind Gibbons Architects Ltd, Brady and Sarah Gibbons, met while studying architecture at Victoria University in the early 2000s, but it wasn’t until they returned from living and working overseas that Gibbons Architects was established in New Plymouth. When the architect they had both been working with on their return retired, Sarah took a job with another practice while Brady started Gibbons Architects. He had already made some good contacts, he says. “I thought I could probably get a project or two going under our own brand and it all went from there.” Sarah’s background in high-end residential dovetails nicely with Brady’s in large commercial and infrastructure projects, and the practice is described as independent and collaborative, working with a diverse range of people and companies to create spaces that work and impress. With a team of five, they work across a range of different sectors, including residential, hospitality, education, commercial, interiors, and fit-outs, with projects as far afield as Auckland and Dunedin. They pride themselves not only on being personable and approachable, but on really listening to their clients, and their ideas, rather than going off on a tangent driven by their own. “Working collaboratively is one of our keys, and we care. We’re genuinely quite emotionally invested in our buildings so we want to see a really good outcome, and having that attitude on all our projects I think has gone a long way,” says Brady. Over the years, Gibbons Architects has not only built up a clientele that is happy with the impressive and ultimately functional spaces they have designed, the practice has also won a number of awards, most recently the 2026 NZIA (New Zealand Institute of Architecture) Western Architecture Award, Commercial category, for Toitū House. Gibbons Architects was part of the process that led to the decision to transform an existing building rather than build anew when it came time for the philanthropic Toi Foundation to find a new home. “Part of the decision behind that purchase was that they only needed about half of the space of that building and the other half could be turned into bookable community spaces,” says Brady. Consultants, builders and subbies alike went the extra mile for the Toi Foundation as they transformed the existing beige, concrete structure with a gloomy interior into a welcoming community hub. Taranaki’s largest construction company, Clelands Ltd, ran the project to achieve what the judges described as Gibbons’ “intelligent, people-focused redesign” of the old bunker into an “open, flexible environment”, praised for its spatial transformation, its cultural significance and its design detail. The project also won a Resene Colour Award, with judges in the Commercial category noting that the deliberate use of colour and elements was highly effective in supporting daily work, identity and community gathering. For Brady and Sarah, the wait is now on to see how Toitū House fares at the national level, but in the meantime the building is providing beautifully designed spaces for the Toi Foundation and its community alike. “We’re genuinely quite emotionally invested in our buildings so we want to see a really good outcome...”
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