New Zealand Commercial Design Trends Series NZ Commercial Design Trends Vol. 34/02C | Page 18

Project
Waikoukou/22 Boulcott St,
Wellington
Architect:
Architecture +
Interior designer:
Jasmax
Contractor:
McKee Fehl
DIVIDE AND RULE
Waikoukou – the new home of Transpower – results from the merger of existing
buildings, seismically upgraded and linked around a bright new six-level atrium
Brand new, high-functioning office space right
in the heart of Wellington isn’t in ready abundance.
However, there’s another, braver, way to achieve the
open floorplate, fit-for-purpose modern environment
an expanding, go-ahead business might require
– appropriate and group buildings already standing.
This was the approach taken for Transpower’s
new head office in the capital, says project archi-
tect Allan Wright of Architecture +, the firm that
designed the complex redevelopment that’s now
the contemporary, connected Waikoukou.
“When our client, developer Maurice Clark of
Cheops Holdings, acquired the existing buildings they
had been vacant for some time,” says Wright. “Overall,
they were of very different design and vintage – the
earliest dating back to the 1930s, with the most recent
significant works undertaken in the 1980s.
“The interconnected buildings – previously
home to the Dom-Post – had been a labyrinthine
affair, with poor links between the two existing main
north and south buildings. And all these buildings
had suffered from neglect. In fact, a significant leap
of the imagination was required to see beyond the
under-maintained buildings and envisage a con-
temporary office environment.
The brief was to reorganise, strengthen and
open up the cellular buildings and create generous,
contiguous, open-office floors focussed around a
central atrium space.
“We also had to bring the disparate collection
of buildings and exterior facades together into a
cohesive whole,” says Wright.
There were several aspects to the programme
– beyond the fundamental seismic and structural
upgrades of the buildings – required to meet
Transpower’s operational requirements. These
included stripping out old interior walls, adding
three levels to the southern building and creating
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the glass-roofed atrium, linking stairs and a formal
entrance to the inner-city offices.
Then there was the replacement of old exterior
frontages and the installation of facades to the new
areas with an energy-efficient curtain wall system.
This gave the disparate parts of the buildings an
harmonious aesthetic, as viewed from the street.
Lastly, tenant car parking has been located in the
basement levels of the southern building and in the
lower levels of the northern building.
Perhaps the two most dramatic aspects of the
project to visitors, however, are the central atrium
and double height entry on Boulcott Street.
“The building has a Boulcott Street address and
the major entrance is here – at the western end of
the atrium,” says the architect.
The double height entry forms a transition
between the northern building and the existing two-
storey southern building podium, with a stepped
pedestrian canopy from the northern end down to
the southern edge, on lower Boulcott Street.
A pedestrian link was also developed to allow
Transpower staff an easy connection through the
refurbished building to a new laneway connection
that leads out to Willis Street.
“However, the new atrium with its cross bridges
and prominent connecting stairs is figuratively and
literally the heart of the scheme, providing a central
focus and principal circulation space. The large
atrium brings natural light right into the heart of the
building on all levels and offers a dynamic space for
chance meetings and social interaction.”
Almost all the existing floor plates were retained
in the architectural transformation, except for
the areas of floor removed to accommodate the
atrium. However, a serious amount of demolition of
walls was undertaken to open out the floor plates,
particularly walls along the north wall of the atrium.