This substantial 14,190 m2 fitout for 900 staff offered an opportunity to holistically enhance Beca’s engineering and consultancy business, to present a fresh and professional image of their expanding organisation. Beca committed to a significant strategic transformation in changing to an open plan workplace with all staff in one building, and the fitout is designed in response to support a range of ways to work. Distinct zones are layered through the plan for individual and team-based working, transitioning into ‘studio’ spaces – open work areas that facilitate collaboration, creative thinking, and working.
These public toilets are located at the Synergy Plaza in the Kumutoto Precinct, situated at the northern-most end of Wellington’s waterfront. As well as taking into account practical considerations such as security, hygiene and vandalism, the brief was to create a structure with a sculptural form, something iconic, highly visible and unusual that was also well integrated into the visual and historical context of the surrounding precinct.
Stairway Cinema is the third installation by OH.NO.SUMO.
Our ongoing goal is to experiment with architecture and the way it can engage with the public in unique and exciting ways. This project takes inspiration from the site and its inhabitants. The site is the busy pedestrian intersection of two inner city streets in Auckland, New Zealand. It is located between two universities and is a place of ‘unconsidered waiting’. Bus stops and laundromats create a dispersed hard-scape that results in numerous instances of poor quality waiting, while simultaneously failing to provide quality space for social interaction. Members of the public retreat individually into the media offered on their mobile phones. This in turn results in greater separation and dislocation from an existing community that is waiting to be activated. A community must be linked not only virtually but also physically.
BOX Living (www.boxliving.co.nz) built this beach house in Wellington using their post and beam construction system. The system uses engineered timber posts and beams with stainless steel cross-braces.
The BOX building system is inspired by the Case Study House program which used steel to create simple, elegant forms, open spans and large areas of glazing.
This house is located on a narrow urban site in the heart of Herne Bay. Tight site controls and a sloping site resulted in a long narrow building form that steps down the slope of the site.
This extension to the NZ Maritime Museum is designed to house an exhibition of New Zealand yachting, from early small boats through to NZL32, which first won the America’s Cup for this country. NZL32 was gifted to Te Papa, and is now exhibited as a collaboration between Voyager and Te Papa.
The house was conceived as a container sitting lightly on the land for habitation or the dream of habitation. The intention was to reinterpret the New Zealand building tradition – the crafting of wood – the expression of structure, cladding, lining and joinery in a raw and unique way. The construction is reminiscent of the \”trip\” or \”rafter\” dams common in the Coromandel region at the turn of last century. Heavy vertical structural members supporting horizontal boarding. The unadorned natural timber, a sustainable and renewable resource, provides a connection to nature and the natural.
The original 1970’s bungalow on this site had little to recommend it aside from extensive upper harbour views and adjacent sea views from the second floor. The clients were determined to maintain these views, along with the “beach-side” feel of this unique site.
Outdoor room of the boatshed (Images Courtesy Emma-Jane Hetherington)
Boxes form the basis of this intriguing modern holiday house…. bold forms and stark lines create an overall effect, which is solid without being monumental. Glass curtain walls create opportunities to bring the outdoors in and to incorporate internal building elements into the geometry of the structure.
(Judges comment, NZIA awards).
North exterior by night (Images Courtesy Emma-Jane Hetherington)
Awards: NZIA Local Award for Residential Architecture 2009; NZIA National Award finalist for Residential Architecture 2010; Published in 21st Century Houses – 150 of the World’s Best
Located to capture views over the river estuary and distant harbor entrance, this modern holiday home is a composition of separate forms – two black-stained timber boxes that overhang a concrete plinth. Full of surprises, the house transforms effortlessly from cozy individual spaces to open plan when required. A covered deck opening from the living space provides another intimate space within the whole.
(Judges comment, NZIA awards)
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