WestpacTrust Stadium won the International Award from a field of 15 entries from Australian architects for projects in countries including the United States and Germany, and the Asian region.
The jury, comprising three high-profile architects and an architecture writer, described the stadium as ?like a shimmering disc on Wellington?s dramatic hill-backed Caldera waterfront ... (which) adds a powerful visual experience to the New Zealand capital?s distinctive physicality and increasingly urban style?.
Bligh Voller Nield?s NSW Tennis Centre also had further recognition in the national awards, receiving a commendation in the prestigious Sir Zelman Cowen Award for Public Buildings, and also the BHP Colorbond Award for the innovative use of steel. The Tennis Centre was joint winner of the RAIA?s important New South Wales award, the Sulman, in the State awards announced in June.
Bligh Voller Nield principal Phillip Tait, who was a Director in Charge of the WestpacTrust Stadium, said: ?We?re proud of what we?ve achieved with this stadium. Bligh Voller Nield is one of just a few Australian architectural firms that has been successful in pursuing the very tough world of international sports architecture, combining a natural affinity with sport with dedication to world?s best practice in design,? Mr Tait said. ?The WestpacTrust Stadium is proof that it is possible for beautiful form to follow function.?
The WestpacTrust Stadium was designed in a joint venture between Bligh Lobb Sports Architecture (Bligh Voller Nield and HOK Sport) and the New Zealand firm, Architecture Warren and Mahoney. The Wellington Stadium in June won the national, regional and colour prizes in the New Zealand Institute of Architects 2000 Awards. Bligh Lobb Sports Architecture also helped design Stadium Australia.
In addition to its role in the architectural design of Stadium Australia and the Tennis Centre for the 2000 Olympic Games, Bligh Voller Nield was involved in the International Broadcast Centre, the original Masterplan for Homebush Bay, Olympic Overlay (operational masterplanning) and the Penrith Whitewater Stadium.
Bligh Voller Nield is currently shortlisted in tenders for the UK National Athletics Stadium in Lee Valley, London, and the new Sports Campus in Dublin, Ireland, a project equivalent to Sydney?s Olympic Park in size and importance.
