| 91 Architecture Workshop ARCHITECTURE T T Russell Fredric Restaurant project highlights expertise The refurbishment and expansion of the Le Cordon Bleu culinary campus in central Wellington in 2024 has been a significant local project for the practice. Commercial construction, Internal refurbishments, Educational buildings, Multi-unit housing projects and seismic strengthening in the Wellington area. Specialist Building Contractors Proudly Supporting Architecture Workshop 04 387 9470 www.fieldandhall.co.nz RJ Mullin Ltd STAINLESS STEEL & ALUMINIUM FABRICATORS GENERAL SHEET METAL WORKERS 33 Montgomery Crescent, Upper Hutt, 5018 PO Box 40-531 Upper Hutt 5140 Benchtops | Balustrades | Handrails | Architectural Features 021 0521 632 admin@rjmullin.co.nz www.rjmullin.co.nz 04 939 8515 The refurbishment of Wellington’s Le Cordon Bleu culinary school highlights the specialist design and refurbishment expertise of Architecture Workshop on the complex inner-city project. Founded in 1992 by Christopher Kelly, the Wellington practice works across projects ranging from larger-scale urban design and master planning through to individual buildings located in regional landscapes throughout Aotearoa New Zealand. Architecture Workshop is known for projects that respond strongly to landscape, context and how people use buildings, rather than following a single architectural style, Christopher says. “We set out to make calm, uncomplicated environments tailored to the client and derived from the context and social heritage of each specific location. The workshop nature of the practice brings together other specialist disciplines within a clear design intent framework for each project.” Christopher developed much of his design approach during his architectural apprenticeship with Renzo Piano Building Workshop, working in its Genoa design team on landmark projects such as Kansai International Airport in Osaka and Aurora Place Tower in Sydney. In New Zealand, Architecture Workshop’s award-winning projects include the Waitomo Glowworm Caves Visitors Centre and Lindis Lodge, and Christopher has also been a keynote speaker and judge at international conferences and events. He has a keen interest in addressing housing inequity; the practice has recently been involved with larger-scale social housing projects in Australia, which is something he believes Aotearoa also needs. The refurbishment and expansion of the Le Cordon Bleu culinary campus in central Wellington in 2024 has been a significant local project for the practice. The upgraded campus includes a new training restaurant, Brasserie Le Cordon Bleu, a modern cuisine kitchen and a pâtisserie demonstration kitchen, offering students a hands-on training environment designed to reflect real hospitality settings. Architecture Workshop originally worked on the culinary school project in 2012, when the former Regent Cinema building in Cuba Street was converted into a hospitality training campus. This involved introducing light atriums into the deep existing building and organising teaching kitchens, classrooms and circulation spaces across multiple levels. In 2023 the client re-engaged Architecture Workshop to complete further refurbishment work, including adding another teaching kitchen, consolidating facilities and creating a multi-use event space that also functions as a training restaurant. The refurbishment presented significant technical challenges, particularly installing a large commercial teaching kitchen with extensive gas, ventilation and plumbing requirements within an existing building while the school remained operational. “We were effectively inserting new services and teaching facilities into an existing building structure while maintaining fire egress and keeping the school operating, which required careful planning and coordination with Field and Hall, the main contractor.” Integrating the new services and systems required close coordination between engineers and contractors throughout the project. The layout was also reconfigured to create a larger event and dining space facing Manners Street, forming a training restaurant where students test their five-star French hospitality training serving members of the public. The double-height circulation space and restaurant area form a central social space within the building and improve natural light and connection to Manners Street. After 40 years in the industry, Christopher attributes Architecture Workshop’s growth and international reputation to a combination of strong design thinking, technical capability and the ability to deliver complex projects in sometimes challenging locations, including natural landscapes or existing buildings. “Our aim is to think like an architect-led design builder, always to make cost-efficient buildings that work well for people in close collaboration with the contractors.”
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