Business South March 2021

88 | Architype ARCHITECTURE Facilities at the next level Connecting weary travellers with fresh air, the landscape, hues of lavender and alpacas grazing in the distance was a key consideration when designing bathroom facilities for Ashburton tourism business Farmers Corner. A breath of fresh air in design has re- warded Dunedin architectural practice Architype Ltd with a prestigious Nation- al award in the commercial section at the 2020 New Zealand Institute of Architects Awards for the Bathroom Pavilion project. Connecting weary travellers with fresh air, the landscape, hues of lavender and alpacas grazing in the distance was a key considera- tion when designing bathroom facilities for Ashburton tourism business Farmers Corner. Located just south of Ashburton, Farmers Corner offers retail and restaurant facilities on the doorstep of a beautifully rural setting. Primarily focused on bus tours of overseas travellers, in pre-covid times Farmers Corner hosted up to fifty buses on a busy day. With the objective of creating more space on site, the owners of Farmers Corner decided to relocate the bathroom facilities, calling upon Architype for design and creative inspi- ration. “We had previously worked for Farmers Corner on their shop fit-out and a couple of other projects so we had already established a good relationship with them,” says Tim Ross, Architype’s founder and Design Director. “They wanted something that was going to be high quality and up there with the best bathroom experiences in New Zealand. We knew that people who had spent a couple hours on a bus before reaching Farmers Cor- ner would want to quickly find the bathroom facilities so we located the bathroom on the entry axis to the whole facility.” Upon entering the front door visitors im- mediately see an axis leading outside to the bathroom facilities. Finned cubicles are open to the fresh air while privacy is maintained by glazed fritted screens looking over the farm- land beyond. “We did a lot of research to work out the right level of privacy to achieve our goals and that is where the glazed fritting provides privacy even at dusk...” T Richard loader “We did a lot of research to work out the right level of privacy to achieve our goals and that is where the glazed fritting provides privacy even at dusk — but the facilities are typically used during the day anyway. You often hear laughter when people are using them because they are a bit of an experience and not the typical bathroom.” With the client open to considering different kinds of materials to achieve something very special and add to the experience, a faceted glass roof falls into four quadrants built into a stunning laminated veneer lumber (LVL) grid form structure. Polished concrete flooring flows throughout the building with cubicle fins constructed from Oamaru stone. A dark stone vanity travelling through the centre of the bathroom draws the eye out to the farmland in the distance with alpacas walking past or taking the time to graze. Forming a key feature of Farmers Corner’s facilities, visitor feedback has been over- whelmingly positive and most certainly an unforgettable pit-stop experience on people’s travels. “We initially entered into the 2020 Canter- bury Institute of Architecture awards,” says Tim. “We weren’t expecting to win because there is some amazing commercial work that has recently gone up in Christchurch. “We went on to the National Awards and won that as well. It really is quite a big deal for us to win a national award because we have only been in business for nine years. “We were chuffed to get the award being such a young practice. To have your peers recognise your work is pretty gratifying.” 027 631 7621 LDMEltd@gmail.com LDMElectricalLTD For quality electrical services • No job too big or small i i i j i mal MURRAY WAGSTAFF STONEWORK Masonry & Blockwork • Residential & Commercial Masonry & Blockwork • Residential & Commercial 027 477 5353 wag.stone@gmail.com