Wilson School is a building designed to meet the needs of our most vulnerable children. It is Auckland’s first purpose-built school for special needs students with specialised facilities including six classrooms, a multi-purpose space and specialist therapy rooms.

It is a building and site which belongs to the children who arrive each day. The design motivates and generates independence and pride and has an unwavering focus on the wellbeing of pupils and staff. It is a building which inspires hope.

The school is unobtrusive in its relationship to its setting. It connects quietly to the landscape, indulging in the tranquil, serene essence of the site. The building assumes a subdued aspect beneath the surrounding trees and park-like setting, showcasing its simple yet sculptural form. It has a friendly interaction with its environment employing sustainable design principles.

The natural timber structure reflects the site’s context. It expresses a sense of peace, reassurance and warmth. The closeness to the natural elements that the building projects in its intimate connection with the landscape is a feature which is therapeutic to staff, students and visitors alike.

Photography Courtesy of Patrick Reynolds

Auckland’s Queen Street has been transformed into a world-class, people-friendly main street, evoking the very heart and soul of the city. Distinctive streetscapes have been created which convey the city’s urban identity, quality, and character.
The project has provided for a network of distinctive places people want to visit and linger in, that supports the concentration of retail and cultural activities, and which transforms and revitalises the CBD into a sought after destination to live, work, play, and invest.

Footpaths have been widened, street furniture and art works added, and lighting improved. These were key elements of the upgrade designed to complement Auckland’s land, history and culture. Featured is furniture which reflects a strong Pacific flavour, sculptural artwork, and paving patterns which recall the inanga (whitebait) that was present in the Horotiu Stream which ran down the Queen Street valley.

The upgrade saw a new emphasis on native trees and the natural environment. Native plantings including nikau palms and cabbage trees were chosen for their iconic and hardy qualities.
At the core of these efforts has been the desire to reclaim the city for the people of Auckland through making it an attractive and desirable place to live, work, and play.

Photography Courtesy of Kim Christensen

Hamilton’s WEL Energy Academy of Performing Arts neatly orientates itself to the adjacent lake and University of Waikato campus beyond. The entry and internal circulation links the larger movement pattern of the campus as a whole, giving the feeling of a building that fits its environment effectively.

The performance areas, conference rooms and chambers are simple and well appointed. These spaces are linked with loose circulation areas allowing for informal performance and exhibition areas, adding to the campus feel and contrasting with the formality of the external forms.

The design nicely draws the outdoor happenings indoors while hosting events, performances and exhibitions. It is a building which stands out on an otherwise unremarkable campus and provides a guide for future building decisions by the University. It is a building which evokes the interest of students and visitors both new and old.

Meridian Energy’s new four-storey Wellington waterfront head office has eco-friendly design features promoting carbon neutrality, reducing the environmental footprint, and encouraging sustainability. The building has achieved a five-star green rating from the New Zealand Green Building Council.

Comprehensive design specifications covered aspects from proximity to public transport and use of environmentally healthy materials, through to an energy-monitoring system designed to track use and show where energy savings could be made.

Minimising construction and demolition waste, which accounts for up to 40 per cent of waste sent to New Zealand landfills, was a primary aim of the development. A waste-specialist sponsored by the Ministry for the Environment worked with the contractors to implement the Resource Efficiency in the Building and Related Industries (REBRI) guidelines. Waste minimisation actions included keeping a waste register, recycling, and staff training. More than 60 per cent of construction waste was sent for recycling.

Interiors are designed to make the office a pleasant, productive place to work in with maximum natural light, views for most staff and automatic temperature controls that staff can over-ride when required.

The building has features such as solar hot water, heat recovery systems, intelligent and addressable lighting controls, mixed mode ventilation (including chilled beams), an active external façade and a rainwater collection system for water re-use within the building. It is designed to use 60 per cent less energy and 70 per cent less water than comparable office buildings.

The project is a practical demonstration that good environmental principles and commercial imperatives are not mutually exclusive.

Photography Courtesy of Simon Devitt

The Dixon Street Flats in central Wellington were completed in 1944 as part of the first Labour Government’s state housing programme. They are considered to be the archetype of Modernist era apartment blocks in New Zealand.
After their election in 1935 the Labour Government embarked on an extensive housing scheme. The scheme is best known for its production of suburban houses. However, 13 concrete apartment blocks were also erected, as a response to the severity of the housing shortage and critical lack of labour and timber materials caused by the Second World War.

Built of load-bearing, reinforced concrete, the Dixon Street Flats were the second block of apartments to be erected by the government. Although apartment-style living had been first introduced into New Zealand cities in the 1920s, the flats marked a new era of domestic architecture.

Designed according to the principles of the Modernist Movement. Modernist architecture is distinguished by its austere, machine-made and streamlined appearance.

The 10-storey building was the first slab apartment block in New Zealand, containing 115 one-bedroom units and one two-bedroom unit for the caretaker. Slab apartment blocks were only one unit deep to maximise privacy and sunlight.
The project was of a magnitude unprecedented in the history of domestic architecture in New Zealand and caused considerable excitement in the local press.

Photography Courtesy of Kim Christensen

The redevelopment of Wellington’s waterfront was driven by a desire to improve one of the city’s best used community places – a space open to the public 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

A key part of the Wellington experience it is a focal point for community activities and events, hosting beach volleyball tournaments and concerts, dragon boating, and firework displays. It is a place where families picnic and there is a recreational activity for all with adults enjoying a game of petanque, teenagers at the skate park, and younger children in the play garden.

The beach, boardwalk, promontory, kiosk and change rooms were carefully and quietly added, while poor water quality, urban clutter and intrusive structures were removed. The enhanced beach integrates the new amenity buildings with the landscape elements, seamlessly incorporating the beach control points and storm water infrastructure and at the same time creating a pier to take the viewer out into the amphitheatre of Wellington Harbour.

The waterfront is now an integral piece of Wellington’s landscape that has been embraced by the whole city.

The South Christchurch Library & Service Centre is a picture of functionality and efficiency with no excessive architectural statements.

As a community centre it sits in a park setting, providing a gentle civic presence. Particularly noteworthy are the sustainable features incorporated into the build. Some of these include the building alignment on the site to make use of natural features such as deciduous trees for shade in summer.

Another feature of the building includes rainwater collected from the roof being directed into a moat water feature surrounding the building. Passive ventilation is then possible by using the moat to cool air entering the building through low-level windows, and a computer controlled temperature management system that can open and close windows as necessary.

It is also expected that the design will result in a saving of $16,000 per year in energy costs due to the energy efficiency measures implemented. This includes the enhanced use of natural light and energy saving fittings such as double glazing and woollen insulation in the walls and ceilings.

The strength of this socially-orientated building lies in its direct functional simplicity and the clarity of spaces. The light-filled structure is elegantly expressed and features an effective use of colour inside. The spaces within are flooded with light and flow easily from one to the other.

Photography Courtesy of Stephen Goodenough

The University of Otago’s Information Services Building (ISB) is a major renovation and addition to the university’s central library creating a 24-hour information marketplace.

The ISB has created an entirely new space on campus. The Link is a major and vital element of the ISB, melding the features of the learning centre of the university, the library, with the social centre of the campus for students, the University Union Building.

It contains a variety of spaces – the expected and the unexpected. There are e-stop kiosks allowing internet access. There are areas for those wishing to study in a more relaxed manner than the secure area of the library allows. There is lounge and café seating grouped so that students can engage with each other and with staff in comfort.

The building houses 2,200 study spaces including private study nooks, group study rooms and relaxed study areas, where students can combine their study with socialising and eating.

The ISB incorporates sustainable design principles including high-tech glazing to minimise solar heat gain, extensive use of natural light, and automatically-controlled windows which, combined with open planning, allow distribution of fresh air. Materials from the old library building were re-used and recycled.

A long curved limestone wall, backed by a 300mm concrete wall, winds its way through the length of the building. Not only is the wall the backbone of the building, but it is also a massive heat sink. This works in conjunction with high insulation glass to minimise temperature extremes by limiting direct solar gain during the day and releasing stored heat at night. Little work is left to be done by the computerised climate control system. Innovative light shelves drive daylight into every corner of the building, minimising artificial lighting levels in daytime hours.

Photography Courtesy of Gollings and Pidgeon

The Onepoto footbridge is on the edge of a mangrove swamp, alongside Auckland’s northern motorway. In acknowledgement of the area’s indigenous seafood gathering history, its curved timber glue-laminated “ribs” evoke maritime images such as a whale’s skeleton, a breaking wave, or a half-constructed sailing ship. The ribs also serve as a shield from busy traffic, provide a sheltered outlook, and conceal the concrete beam of the underlying structure.

Photography Courtesy of Simon Devitt.

A new bridge at Ormiston Road provides a gateway to Flat Bush in South Auckland.  The cable stayed bridge spans an existing stream and landscaped park, accommodating four lanes of traffic plus pedestrian access. Construction is concrete pylons and deck, steel cable supports, stainless steel components and ‘beacons’ on top of the 45 metre pylons to provide a reference point-particularly at night.

Photography Courtesy of Simon Devitt

The New Zealand Memorial in London’s Hyde Park Corner commemorates the enduring bonds between New Zealand and the United Kingdom, and our shared sacrifice during times of war. It is a symbol both of our common heritage and of New Zealand’s distinct identity.

The memorial consists of 16 angled cruciform shafts or standards which stake their place confidently in meaningful formation, grid-like, across the grassy slope of Hyde Park. Their form and arrangement evoke multiple interpretations as both urban design and sculpture.

They lean poetically, marking their message against the backdrop of the park and the rich texture of inner city London. These proud forms are beautifully embellished with a myriad of patterns, erasures, readings and smaller sculptural pieces, quietly telling stories of New Zealand identity.

The individual “standards” in semi-grid formation call to mind soldiers in procession, Pouwhenua markers around Ma-ori ancestral sites, or Celtic remains like standing stones.

The forward-leaning angle of the standards gives them a defiant pose reminiscent of warriors during haka, the defensive bat in cricket, and the barrel of a shouldered gun. Thus the military, Aotearoa/New Zealand, and British links of the memorial are immediately established in the placing and attitude of the sculptures.

This is about remembrance, sacrifice, heritage, national identity, and pride. The forms evoke emotion and draw people in. Through the words and images, any New Zealander visiting the memorial will recognise home, and British people may learn something of the relationship between the two countries. Engagement with the memorial and standards is encouraged by design.