72 | architecture+ T T Richard Loader Five-year heritage odyssey rewarded Architecture+ designed the eleven-storey towers that wrap behind the heritage building. Photo: Paul McReadie ARCHITECTURE If you can dream it, we can create it. Our craftsman joiners have the skill, patience and attention to detail to deliver a full custom solution. Our experience is wide, and our passion to discover and accomplish more is unlimited. www.craftbuilt.co.nz | 0800 488 777 | sales@craftbuilt.co.nz What started as a project to seismically strengthen the façade of Wellington’s iconic Stewart Dawson’s Corner, turned into a five-year journey, rewarding architecture+ with both Heritage and Commercial Building awards at the New Zealand Institute of Architecture’s (NZIA) 2023 Wellington Architectural Awards. But Kirsty Chamberlain, Project Architect and architecture+ Director, says the award really recognises the collaborative effort of all the consultants and contractors involved in the challenging and complex project. “It is also recognition of what has been achieved for the city by the whole team involved.” Collectively known as 8 Willis Street, the project involved extensive construction activities including the restoration of Stewart Dawson’s 100-year-old building façade and heritage timber roof, along with the construction/redevelopment of an eleven-storey L Shaped commercial tower that embraces the heritage building. Located on the corner of Willis Street and Lambton Quay, Stewart Dawson’s Corner stems back to the very beginning of Wellington City. “The heritage building actually encompasses three three-storey buildings, with the central shop originally built as the Stewart Dawson’s jeweller in the early 1900s,” explains Kirsty. “The building is classic Edwardian. You could see the facades in London’s Regent Street. The façades are how the whole project started, with the building owner’s requirement to seismically strengthen them. “We really enjoyed working with the heritage architect, looking at old heritage photos of the building, and a lot of that history has been reinstated.” The façades had to be faithfully restored and seismically strengthened, the roofs rebuilt using the original roof trusses, new floor plates, with a complete rebuild of the interior. Retaining three separate retail spaces on the ground floor, with three separate facades, a new entrance on the ground floor leads to the two upper levels of office space. “A really nice touch is that Stewart Dawson the jeweller has moved back into the Stewart Dawson’s shop, where it all began over a 100 years ago.” The owner of the heritage site, which extends 40m behind the facades, also owned the building next door. When Statistics New Zealand came on board as a possible tenant it was decided to build a commercial tower that would effectively connect with the Heritage building. “Architecture+ designed the eleven-storey towers that wrap behind the heritage building, and their connection to the heritage facades. The tower at the rear is a completely new steel framed building. The adjoining tower next to the heritage building was an existing eight-storey concrete column and slab building. That concrete structure has been retained and extended up to the eleven storeys. It was set back from the street edge, and we have pulled it forward, carefully treating the façade at that lower level, so that it relates sympathetically to the adjacent heritage façade. Wight Aluminium did a great job and we worked closely with them detailing the curtain walls of the towers. While on one tower the glazing panels step in and out, the other has diagonal mullions. That was very intentional to show that they are two different towers, though connected through a common floor plate.” The building has recently achieved a New Zealand Green Building Council 6-Star Greenstar ‘World Excellence’ rating, and Kirsty acknowledges that the reuse of the concrete structure was a large part of that achievement. “There are also solar panels on the roof top, and rainwater is stored and used as grey water. From a design perspective it’s about user comfort, including human proximity to natural light. A central atrium with glazing at the roof, along with a rear atrium brings natural light deep into the building. Stairs in the central atrium are designed to encourage people to walk up and down the building, and half way up the building is a large ‘end-of-trip’ area, housing a bikes store and shower facilities. Rather than a traditional HVAC system, a very quiet, comfortable, and ‘green’ chilled beam air distribution system has been used. All those elements come together to go towards the Green Star rating.” “The façades are how the whole project started, with the building owner’s requirement to seismically strengthen them.“ Architecture+ was founded in 1994 and undertakes a diverse range of commercial, public, multi-residential and single residential architectural projects throughout the wider Wellington region and beyond. “The relationships that we have built up over the years, the rigorous design and documentation, and striving to make things work, have been at the heart of our success.”
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