27 Mar 2026
Kāpiti House has been named Green Home of the Year at the 2026 Home of the Year awards, recognising a home shaped by careful environmental thinking, material restraint, and a strong connection to place. This recognition acknowledges our approach to low-impact housing that brings together performance, resilience, and everyday liveability.
Set within 16 acres near the Kāpiti Coast, the house is designed as a rural retreat for whānau and friends. It brings together careful planning, low-impact construction, and long-term environmental thinking in a way that is practical and deeply personal.
The home supports a broader lifestyle centred on kaitiakitanga, which includes food production, water independence, and ongoing care for the land. Regenerating wetlands, planting, and a productive garden all contribute to the ecological health of the site. The wider food-growing initiatives support several families’ requirements, with a view to future expansion and wider community support.
The judges citation reads:
“This rural home approaches sustainability not as a checklist of technologies but as a holistic way of living. Architecture, landscape, and daily life are intertwined, creating a place that feels incredibly joyful, generous, and deeply personal.
Set lightly within a rural clearing, the buildings sit among wetlands, gardens, and productive landscapes that support both biodiversity and food growing. The house itself can operate off-grid, with careful material choices, low embodied carbon, and passive environmental design guiding every decision.
Inside, the spaces are warm, lively, and full of artefacts gathered through a life of travel — a reminder that the most sustainable homes are those designed to hold, and adapt to, a lifetime of living.”
Thank you again to HOME, and congratulations to all other finalists and winners.
Watch the video here.
