66 | ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN Hierarchy Group - Breen Construction: Roxburgh Pool T T Richard Loader Community pool a rare project The final design includes a150sqm building utilising a concrete block structure to keep the construction durable and cost-effective. “The pool and building was on a maintenance programme, but coming to the end of its life. I was to come up with a design for a new building. Affordability was a key consideration, and so the building’s structure was initially designed out of 40-foot containers.” Sometimes, it is the journey that a design project goes through that makes it special, and gives that sense of deep satisfaction for the designers involved, and the client who takes pride in the finished product. Such is certainly the case for the Roxburgh Pool in Central Otago, for which the design team at Hierarchy Group won the Commercial Architecture category at the 2024 Otago and Southland Architectural Designers New Zealand (ADNZ) awards and also secured a Gold award recently in the 2024 Best Design Awards. “This project is a very good outcome architecturally, but we entered in the ADNZ awards because of the story behind it,” says Hierarchy Group’s managing director Chris Wheeler, “It was a community project that we initially sponsored, and created from nothing. The community didn’t come to us with a project in mind – we went to the community with a design, a budget and a programme. That helped give them a vision to be able to move forward.” The journey commenced eight years ago when Chris was approached by a friend who was about to attend the Roxburgh School’s 50year reunion. The community pool, which is used by the school, sits on land just below the school and on the brow of the Clutha River. “The pool and building was on a maintenance programme, but coming to the end of its life. I was to come up with a design for a new building. Affordability was a key consideration, and so the building’s structure was initially designed out of 40-foot containers.” With only a week and a half to perform his magic, Chris created a design for the building and the pools, along with impactful renders which were printed onto A2 panels. Early on the morning after he finished, those panels were taken to the Roxburgh School reunion, and placed on easels at the entrance to maximise attention. “That created a lot of conversation. There were a lot of visiting students returning, the local community were there and the right people were in the room, so they got a lot of attention, with people willing to support a project financially. It gave the local community who manage the pool a lot of design focus, with a budget, and a delivery programme.” A journey to Roxburgh by the Hierarchy Group design team along with Inovo, their sister company that provides project management and planning, focused the community on sourcing project funding, which took a number of years. The final design, which was built by Central Otago contractor Breen Construction, includes a150sqm building utilising a concrete block structure to keep the construction durable and cost-effective. The total project cost, including consultancy fees, was about $3 million. “The structure’s façade was shrouded in gold, powder-coated, perforated panels that undulate and create visual movement. The inspiration was to capture Central Otago’s landscape colourings. The shroud is essentially aesthetic, and not designed to be weathertight, but it adds so much value to the building,” says Chris. An open screen with flat metal vertical slats placed at the top of the blockwork serves the dual purpose of ventilation and security. A butterfly roof with a low pitch sympathetic to the landscape supports solar panels, which heat the pools. The old single pool has been replaced with a four-lane 25-metre adults’ pool, as well as a learners’ pool with beach edge for ease of entrance by toddlers. There was also hard landscaping, and shading that runs the length of the adult pool, providing another platform for solar panels. “This was quite a rare project for our business,” says Chris. “Normally, we are either tendering to get work, or invited to do so. But in this case, there wasn’t a project. “What made this project special is that Hierarchy Group gave it momentum, and the community is very proud to now have the new facility.” Chris also acknowledges the design contributions made by team members Bing Chen and Richard Orme. T T Arrow House a winner - page 68 www.aoteagroup.nz ProudlysupportingHierarchyGroup&Breen Constructionon theRoxburghPool Project Call us nowon 03 445 1374 Electric Air Conditioning • Electrical • Communications • Industrial • Commercial • Domestic
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NDc2Mzg=