Dulux Colour Awards 2026

40th Dulux Colour Awards celebrates a milestone occasion

The winners of the prestigious 40th Dulux Colour Awards have been awarded. This symbolic moment honours four decades of awarding exceptional colour use in the built environment, as well as the extraordinary winning projects chosen from a record number of entries across New Zealand and Australia this year.

This year’s Grand Prix winners exemplify the evolution of the awards, demonstrating the versatility of colour through two distinctly contrasting approaches. The New Zealand Grand Prix–winning Waka Huia by Pac Studio is a richly layered, kaleidoscopic home that weaves saturated colour with art, original detailing and personal history. It is a powerful outcome of the architects’ deep theoretical understanding, conviction and collaborative design process​

By contrast, The Australian Grand Prix winner, Glimmer, a survey exhibition of ceramicist Linda Draper’s work by Youssofzay Hart, demonstrates understated colour mastery through a restrained palette drawn from subtle tonal cues within the artworks themselves. The design carefully balances supporting the sculptural pieces while maintaining a confident spatial presence. Through its modular, topographic installation, the exhibition moves beyond conventional gallery typologies, offering a conceptual approach with relevance across multiple disciplines​.

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