| 89 T T Kelly Deeks When art and architecture combine The Cambridge Terrace development has been revisioned as a ground floor cafe and commercial space, with five high-quality, one to two bedroom apartments on the first floor. ARCHITECTURE Nspire Architecture: Cambridge Apartments “It was important for us to have a connection to the outdoors, especially because some inner-city apartments now don’t have any at all.” Nspire Architecture’s apartment conversion and commercial revamp for an inner city Wellington building showcases the relationship between art and architecture and perfectly frames it to stand out and proud amongst its rather mundane surrounding Cambridge Terrace streetscape. Previously home to picture framing specialist Art for Art’s Sake, 62 Cambridge Terrace has been revisioned as a ground floor cafe and commercial space, with five high-quality, one to two bedroom apartments on the first floor. Each apartment features a balcony and each balcony is framed in bold red, with the balconies cantilevering dramatically over the street with juxtaposition. Their sharp angles and large scale volumetric forms create different views and moments from the street and more importantly, the ‘framed’ outlook from the end user. Nspire Architecture senior architectural graduate Anthony Liuvaie says while these frames pay homage to the building’s former tenant, they also serve to bring as much natural light into each apartment as possible, with each frame positioned and angled to capture either the morning, midday, or afternoon sun. “It was important for us to have a connection to the outdoors, especially because some inner-city apartments now don’t have any at all,” Anthony says. “We made the frames as large as we could and placed big windows and doors on the front, back, and sides of the building to flood the apartments with as much natural sunlight as we could. It adds to the quality of the space.” The bold red colour helps to blend this stand-out building with the colours of the surrounding streetscape, which Anthony says has a red tone. “We wanted them to stand out but also to naturally fit into the whole streetscape and the existing colour scheme that’s already there. With the bright green Bottle-O as our next door neighbour, I think it makes us stand out even more!” The team at Nspire Architecture wanted to make passers-by question how this structure was possible, and that was certainly a question shared by the building team at certain parts of the project. Long-standing commercial construction specialist Field and Hall had a really challenging design to put together and they worked closely with Nspire Architecture and engineering consultant Spencer Holmes to create overhanging forms which appear to be unsupported. All this through 2020/21 when Covid delays were rampant, and the price of materials was rising sharply by the week. “Covid pushed everything out on this job, it was so crazy,” Anthony says. “ There were a lot of on-site changes made to try to speed up the work, and Field and Hall were really good at working with us to find ways to fast track the project without compromising on quality.” Nspire Architecture designed the interiors as well with bespoke kitchens and bathrooms and spacious living areas. This project was underway at the same time as another Nspire Architects mixed-use development on main road Island Bay with one commercial space and eight apartments. “ It’s something different for us because we have worked predominantly in residential design, so mixed-use buildings were a bit out of our comfort zone. When our client was really sold on our design we knew we had to carry on and achieve what we set out to. A lot of the time things can change on site because of the cost, and we had to make further changes due to Covid-related supply issues. So we are really proud we’ve managed to finish this project without varying too much on what we actually designed.” Commercial construction, Internal refurbishments, Educational buildings, Multi-unit housing projects and seismic strengthening in the Wellington area. Specialist Building Contractors Proudly Supporting Nspire Architecture 04 387 9470 www.fieldandhall.co.nz Provista Balustrade Systems, Wellington region specialise in the design, fabrication, and installation of quality aluminium and glass pool fences and balustrades for decks and stairs, both internally and externally. We o er several design style options for your individual projects. P. 0274 470 588 E. ross@provista.co.nz W. www.provista.co.nz
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NDc2Mzg=