| 123 COMMUNITY All Saints Burwood: Higgs Construction As an eco-church, All Saints Burwood was also keen to embrace the opportunity to repurpose an existing building to meet their needs. Photos: Finlay Photo We specialise in a wide range of projects, both in complexity and scale including: Residential | Commercial | Educational | Spiritual Thoughtful Design, Lasting Impact Proud to be working with All Saints Burwood on the The Foundry Project Phone 03 365 7577 | Email admin@pxa.co.nz | www.pxa.co.nz Adapting design for a new life & purpose When Christchurch’s PXA Architects was initially approached by All Saints Burwood in late 2020 over its plans to repurpose the old Foundry building, the former student bar was literally nothing more than stacks of timber along with two relocatable modules. Paul Wilkins, Director of PXA Architects, still has photos of when it was being dismantled at the University of Canterbury. Trying to match up all the various portals, beams and panels with the original Warren and Mahoney design must have been challenging enough, without also having to consider how to adapt the design for future use by church and community. PXA Architects was formally engaged to undertake the daunting task in June 2021. “We started out knowing we had a set of materials to play with, but there was no real record of everything that had been taken out of the building,” recalls Paul. “When the stacks were inspected, we found some things were missing or could not be re-used.” The journey of adaptive design and reassembly on site involved many twists and turns to create the inspiring final result. PXA Architects worked closely with the church, Higgs Construction and other project partners to deliver this repurposed building that honours the brief and the site so beautifully. All Saints Burwood provided the initial sketches of how they wanted the building to be set out – with a large hall, a children’s area, a dance studio, kitchen facilities and a meeting room - so as to serve the church and local community. “We took those sketches and it evolved from there - it was a real team effort. In essence, it is a big rectangular building where everything happens under the portals, except for the modular spaces at the back that were kept and upgraded. “One of the big changes is that we’ve reoriented the whole building so that the main space now looks out through a glazed wall to the lovely river views outside. We also adapted the building to fit its new site next to the church, so it is slightly smaller than the original.” Paul is proud of how much timber from the Foundry was able to be re-used - from acoustic ceiling panels to window joinery - and he’s had plenty of positive feedback since the building was officially opened in May. PXA is well-known in Christchurch as a client and context focused architecture practice that specialises in a wide range of projects, both in complexity and scale, including residential, commercial, educational and spiritual. CONTACT PXA Architects 03 365 7577 admin@pxa.co.nz www.pxa.co.nz Photos by Finlay Photo Photos by Finlay Photo Photos by Finlay Photo
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