Burnt but beautiful
Fire tore though Christchurch Adventure Park’s forest, ruining trails and structures, but the surviving buildings are considered some of Canterbury’s bestdesigned.
The four buildings received an award for commercial architecture at the Canterbury Architecture Awards on Wednesday.
Each building, designed by AW Architects, is wrapped in black metal cladding and lined with pine plywood. They were prefabricated to deal with a tight time frame and budget.
The panel judged the complex after February’s Port Hills Fires, which mostly destroyed the Adventure Park but left the buildings untouched, thanks to valiant efforts from firefighters.
Earthquake rebuild projects took many of the top spots at the 2017 Canterbury Architecture Awards.
At the awards event yesterday, awards jury convenor Mike Callaghan said the projects illustrate how the city was changing ‘‘at an unprecedented pace’’.
Warren and Mahoney Architects received three awards for two heritage projects the Arts Centre Clock Tower & Great Hall, and the Christchurch Club; and for the PwC Centre.
Callaghan praised Warren and Mahoney for ‘‘championing the viability of the restoration’’ of the Category 1 listed Club building.
The project reconstructed and restored the damaged and partially-demolished building, designed by Benjamin Mountfort in 1863.
Christchurch practice Sheppard and Rout Architects also received three awards for the BNZ Centre, a teaching block at Medbury School, and as part of a joint venture team with Jasmax and Klein for Burwood Hospital.
Nott Architects’ three awards included two for housing and one for Fush, a fish ‘n chip restaurant with a vibrant blue interior.
Regarding the eight housing awards, Callaghan said architects had rethought familiar Canterbury design tropes – such as gabled roofs and garden settings – to allow modern houses to conform in traditional neighbourhoods.
Nott Architects’ Kotare Street consists of a number of gabled buildings, and was described by the jury as a ‘‘calming riverside masterpiece’’.
Fendalton Road House by Patterson Associates is a triplegabled house rebuilt within the footprint of the house destroyed by the Christchurch earthquakes.
Parkbridge House, by Four Walls Architecture, replaces the historic McKellar House at the Parkbridge Apartment complex.
Knowles House, designed by Dalman Architects, was an alterations and additions winner.
The house required extensive earthquake repairs, and Callaghan praised the way ‘‘the architect managed the complete repair and refurbishment works under three separate contracts between the client and insurance company’’.
Other housing winners were Wilson and Hill Architects’, Cymon Allfrey Architects and Thom Craig Architects, and MAP.
Two Enduring Architecture Awards, for buildings more than 25 years old that have ‘‘aged gracefully’’, were awarded to the building at 18 Butler Street by Maurice Mahoney, and the Templeton Chapel of the Holy Family, designed by George Lucking.
The Canterbury Architecture Awards are part of the New Zealand Architecture Awards programme run by the New Zealand Institute of Architects.