Auckland architect Julie Stout has been awarded Te Kāhui Whaihanga the New Zealand Institute of Architects' top honour. 

Stout, of Mitchell Stout Dodd on Devonport's Victoria Rd, won the gold medal for her contribution to architecture, as a teacher and her staunch advocacy of a better Auckland, including speaking out against waterfront changes. 

Institute president Judi Keith-Brown said she was a unique and worthy winner. 

"Not only does she have a tremendous body of built work, but she has been a generous teacher and an inspiring role model throughout her impressive career," Keith-Brown said. 

She was a brave and relentless advocate for a better urban environment in Tāmaki Makaurau and the breadth of work from her practice, education and advocacy had played a critical role in uplifting the profession. 

Stout has been an architect for nearly 40 years. She was the partner in life and work with the late Dave Mitchell who died in 2018. He won the institute's supreme national award three times, the gold medal in 2005 and became a distinguished alumni award from the University of Auckland in 2016. 

Julie Stout won the institute's highest award. Photo / Nick Reed 

The pair's work includes Auckland's NEW Gallery (1995), Tauranga Art Gallery (2008) and Te Uru Waitākere Contemporary Gallery (2014), school buildings, urban design projects and private residences in Northland, Auckland and the King Country. 

Stout was also a member of the creative team behind New Zealand's 2014 exhibition at the Venice Architecture Biennale. 

Since the early 2000s, she has worked to improve Auckland's urban environment and helped instigate the mayoral task force on urban design in 2005. 

She spoke out against expanding Auckland's port in the Waitematā Harbour, going on to front – and win – a 2015 legal challenge that stopped the port company's plans for this precious part of Tāmaki Makaurau. 

The medal also recognises her generous contribution to the future of the profession through her work in education, the institute said. 

She has served as a professional teaching fellow at Waipapa Taumata Rau Auckland University's school of architecture and planning, and as adjunct professor at Te Whare Wānanga o Wairaka Unitec school of architecture. 

- by Anne Gibson