Altherm Window Systems, an APL brand, has taken the headline spot for the award which is in its 16th year and is keenly contested by architects from around the country.

Altherm is also the sponsor for a two-venue lecture series in May by prominent Philadelphia architect, James Timberlake, who will be the international guest judge on the competition’s selection panel.

“Providing outstanding windows and doors for New Zealand homes is obviously our passion,” said Shane Walden, General Manager, Marketing, for APL (Architectural Profiles Ltd), “so it seemed a good fit to link Altherm, which has always had a strong following with the architectural profession, with the Home of the Year award.”

Entries for the competition have already opened, and after judging in May finalists will be profiled in HOME New Zealand at the time of the award announcement in August. The winning architects receive $15,000.

Guest judge James Timberlake is a founding partner of Kieran Timberlake Architects, which in 2008 won the American Institute of Architects’ Architecture Firm Award, the highest honour bestowed on a firm by the AIA.

James is currently involved in a host of high profile commissions, including the design of the new US Embassy in London, the Brockman Hall for Physics at Rice University, the Center City Building for the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, and the Delaware River Master Plan in Philadelphia. In addition to his architectural practice, James has also held academic posts at many universities including Endowed Professor in Sustainability at the University of Washington College of Architecture and Urban Planning.

His public lectures will be held in Auckland on 2 May and in Wellington on 3 May (venues and time to be advised). UPDATE: There will now be a free public lecture in Christchurch on Thursday May 5.