Tūranga
 

Tūranga

Client:
Christchurch City Council

Location:
Ōtautahi Christchurch

Completion:
2018

Size:
10,000m2

Project Value:
$95m

Design Partner:
Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects

Sustainability Rating:
5 Green Star - Custom Design Certified Rating NZGBC

Contact:
Carsten Auer

Ōtautahi’s new central library, Tūranga, provides locals and visitors a ‘third place’ – somewhere between home and work – to engage with the community, explore, learn and be creative. The open and inclusive interior creates a public forum for community life, cultural expression and supports a service delivery model that removes ‘the counter’ between staff and visitors.

Celebrating community and culture drove the interior layout, particularly the arrangement of key cultural and community spaces on the double height first floor. The vertical journey through the atrium, orientation of key spaces to the landscape and treatment of the ground plane all add to the building’s sense of place.

The project recognises Christchurch’s bi-cultural heritage through the integration of important stories and narratives of Ngāi Tūāhuriri and Ngāi Tahu. Having Matapopore Charitable Trust – the mandated voice for mana whenua in the Christchurch rebuild – engaged from the outset ensured that the cultural narratives of mana whenua are part of the core spatial and formal design concepts of Tūranga. A refined material palette of pale timber, bluestone and white ceilings unify the interior spaces into a cohesive framework. Overlaid is a colour palette developed with Matapopore that responds to the cultural narrative, assists wayfinding, provides a subtle identity to each floor, and is expressed in the artworks, furniture and signage.

Tūranga, one of nine anchor projects identified as vital to the redevelopment of Christchurch, is a sophisticated response to a set of complex requirements that push the boundaries of the modern library and its relevance to the city and patrons. This really feels like a place for people of all ages and demographics. In its accommodation of a wide range of activities and provision of multiple services, Tūranga succeeds admirably in meeting many aspirational goals, including strengthening the community, advancing literacy and lifetime learning, celebrating diversity of culture and heritage and drawing people back to the city centre. The magnificent staircase is an unmissable organising move, gathering and inviting visitors up through three floors before circulating them out onto viewing terraces with carefully framed views of the city.

2019 Canterbury Architecture Award – Interior Architecture: NZIA Jury Citation

Client:
Christchurch City Council

Location:
Ōtautahi Christchurch

Completion:
2018

Size:
10,000m2

Project Value:
$95m

Design Partner:
Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects

Sustainability Rating:
5 Green Star - Custom Design Certified Rating NZGBC

Contact:
Carsten Auer

Awards

NZIA John Scott Award for Public Architecture 2019
NZIA New Zealand Architecture Award – Public 2019
PCNZ Property Industry Award – Supreme Award 2019
PCNZ Property Industry Award Best in Category – Civic & Arts 2019
NZIA Canterbury Architecture Award – Public Architecture 2019
NZIA Canterbury Architecture Award – Interior Architecture 2019
NZIA Canterbury Architecture Award – Colour Award 2019