Public submissions on ‘Olive Leaf’ set to open
PUBLIC submissions are about to open on a proposed parish and community centre mooted for land beside an historic Arrowtown church.
Submissions will open tomorrow on the Olive Leaf Centre Trust’s proposal for a multipurpose building beside the St Patrick’s Catholic Church, for which land use consent is sought.
The trust initially lodged a draft resource consent application for the building, dubbed The Olive Leaf, last year. However, that was processed in error and then put on hold at the trust’s request.
Designed by Otago architec tural designer Fred van Brandenburg, the building, almost three years in the planning, would be a lowlevel structure to minimise its visual impact and ensure the church remained ‘‘paramount’’ on the site.
It would be sunk into the ground and would primarily be seen as a series of stone walls.
The olive leafshaped roof would also be clad in stone, but would only be viewed as a leaf from above, or from within the communal hall, where gold and autumn colours were planned for its underside.
A spiral internal staircase would lead below ground to an ‘‘enclosed, cryptlike space, reminiscent of churches of old’’.
That would feature a wall of remembrance; a glasswalled internal garden, fed with water flowing from the roof’s ‘‘stem’’, and builtin seating alcoves.
Symbolic Maori motifs in mosaics were planned for stone walls, and a glass koru motif would be embedded into the floor of the outdoor entrance courtyard, which would allow natural light to filter into the space below ground.
Some accommodation was also proposed, primarily for visiting clergy, and spaces would also be provided for mentoring and support.
The goal had been to create a ‘‘taonga of our time’’, rather than just a church hall, he said.
‘‘Our forefathers built to the best of their ability a church that was contemporary in their time.
‘‘It would be appropriate to do the same in our time.’’
He said combining historic and contemporary architecture created an ‘‘interesting juxtaposition between old and new’’ and the two would enhance each other.
The trust was optimistic it could fund the project through grants and donations, including those from patrons of the arts, similar to the Hundertwasser Art Centre project in Whangarei.
First announced in 1993, that project is expected to be completed in 2020 — it is estimated to cost $26.5 million, more than half of which had been raised by the community.
Olive Leaf Centre Trust chairman Colin Bellett said a public information session would be held in the Arrowtown Athenaeum Hall’s supper room from 7pm on Sunday.
‘‘We’d like to think it would be a pleasant information evening — it’s not for a debate about the merits of the project.
‘‘This is just an honest attempt to get everybody fully informed.’’
That would be followed by an ‘‘open day’’ on Monday between 9am and 5pm in the hall.
Public submissions on the proposal close with the Queenstown Lakes District Council on September 13.