The hut's original orange paint scheme (now restored) was used to guide explorers in blizzard conditions. Photo: Jane Ussher

Hillary's Hut in Antarctica wins award for dazzling colour scheme

Jenny Brown|Apr 17, 2019

Make us your preferred news source

The annual Dulux Colour Awards bought out a mixed bag of offerings in the winner’s circle, including a Bondi Beach amenities block, a high-end financiers’ headquarters, and the restoration of Edmund Hillary’s historic hut at Ross Sea in Antarctica.

For the exceptionally elegant and multi-functional bus shelter, public seating, changing and refreshment block fronting Campbell Parade, Sydney’s Sam Crawford Architecture with Lymesmith won the main Grand Prix award and the commercial exterior prize.

Representing one of Australia’s leading investment management companies, Financial Services – and congratulated for making the space comfortable and reflective of the company’s brand values – interiors firm Futurespace opted for muted greys, blues and blonds and won the commercial interiors award.

Architect Sam Crawford’s Nth Bondi Amenities Block. Photo: Brett Boardman

For the pops of bold colour on apartment doors that will allow them to be respecified by owners as fashion palettes change in future, Melbourne’s Musk Architecture took out the award for the multi-residential interiors.

But undoubtedly the most unusual winner of the total 286 entries this year, and gaining the international category prize that allows entrants from the Asia Pacific to compete, was the plain little cabin in the snow that was restored this year by the NZ-based Antarctic Heritage Trust.

Future Space’s Financial Services interiors. Photo: Sharyn Cairns

In repainting from bland green to the mid-century original colours that were about survival more than taste, the interior and exterior paint jobs were faithful to the colours Sir Edmund Hillary knew when he led the tractor-reliant 1957 Trans Antarctic Expedition to the South Pole.

The orange and yellow of the exteriors are very retro and so are the almost Axmister multi-hues of the interiors. But they were brilliant choices as contrasts to the constant white-out and blizzard conditions, the Trust tells.

Mainly “because finding shelter could be the difference between life and death, the intense orange and yellow was a beacon to those caught out in the weather”. It was hi-vis enough to also serve pilots as a landscape marker.

Hillary’s Hut today. Photo: Antarctic Heritage Trust

The repainting task of “Hut A” at Scott Base was the summer occupation of 12 trust volunteers who collectively put in 5700 hours to conserving 500 artefacts and getting the building ready for last January’s celebration of the Base’s 60th anniversary that according to trust executive director Nigel Watson, “marks the birthplace of Kiwi leadership in Antarctica. It’s a valuable slice of Kiwi history”.

Having used Dulux products on Hillary’s Hut, a process that the Trust’s program manager Al Fastier explains involved recovering original paint sample from beneath all the overpaint, doing deep research through Sydney’s Living Museum, and then having Dulux technicians match the exact interior and exterior hues, is what qualified hut to be an entrant in the 31st Dulux competition.

It was all done with brushes and very, very cold fingers. www.nzaht.org

Full list of winners:

1. Grand Prix

North Bondi Amenities. Sam Crawford Architects with Lymesmith

2. Student

Carrara Baths. Taylor Chan from University of Auckland

3. Commercial Interior – Public Spaces & Hospitality

The Pool. Aileen Sage Architects with Michelle Tabet

4. Commercial Interior – Workplace & Retail

Financial Services. Futurespace PTY LTD

5. Commercial Exterior

North Bondi Amenities. Sam Crawford Architects with Lymesmith