The Drama of Entry

I was out at Addington Raceway recently and couldn't help noticing the 'architectural punch' of the main entrance to the Westpac Stadium - made all the more dramatic by the gloomy, cloud-filled skies billowing up in the rear. Designed by the Christchurch architectural practice Warren & Mahoney, the stadium opened in 2000. It was the biggest pre-cast concrete construction job ever undertaken in the South Island and if you'd like to know more about the details, you can find lots of information on their website - www.westpacstadium.co.nz www.warrenandmahoney.com

East Meets West

Riccarton, Christchurch. Jan 2009. Ajr

You can’t miss the splendid bulk of the International Buddhist Association Centre on Riccarton Road. This is one of my favourite community buildings in Christchurch. Designed by Christchurch architects, Warren and Mahoney, it draws inspiration from the Dunhuang Caves – a series of over 490 caves, Buddhist temples and statues cut into the rock face near the Taklamakan Desert in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in north-west China, said to be the most comprehensive repository of Buddhist art and history in the world. Built at a cost on NZ$4.5 million, the prominent Riccarton centre, features a beautiful Indian sandstone façade with niches for bronze Buddhist statues. Inside there is a light-filled vegetarian café and teahouse, an art gallery, library, and prayer hall complete with a huge jade Buddha; and along the front, a line of my favourite ginkgo trees. www.warrenandmahoney.com

Water-Side Architecture

Ferrymead, Christchurch. Dec. 2008. Ajr

This is the controversial new apartment complex Water'sEdge - fittingly, on the water's edge at Ferrymead on the way out to Sumner. Personally I don't know what the fuss is all about. I think they look terrific. So they're a few stories high in an otherwise single-storey area - so what? It's not as if the surrounding tilt-slab architecture is of any particular merit and at least the architects of this complex - Warren and Mahoney - have put some thought into creating interesting forms for us to admire as we drive by. www.watersedgeapartments.co.nz www.warrenandmahoney.com

Off the Rails

Christchurch Railway Station. Oct.2008. Ajr

Yesterday, quite by accident, I found myself outside Christchurch’s new Railway Station. It’s just as well it was an accident for I’m sure if I’d gone looking for it intentionally, I’d never have found it – and basically I thought I knew where it was; I’d been there before. But in the years since Christchurch architect, Thom Craig designed it (in the late 1990s when he was still with Warren & Mahoney), this delightfully fresh piece of architecture has all but been ‘subsumed’ by the dreadful Tower Junction shopping complex (an architectural nightmare) and, across the rails, the vast, uninspired acres of Turner’s Car Auctions. Furthermore, the place was totally deserted – not one passenger; not one single attendant; no trains. It was as if all the life had been sucked out of the place. It’s a real pity that it now wallows in this modern suburban wilderness – especially when compared to the striking prominence of the former railway station on Moorehouse Avenue (now home to Science Alive). www.thomcraig.com

A Reader's View - Library Architecture

When the New Brighton Library opened in 1999 on the land end of Brighton Pier it caused a bit of a stir – for a start it was a startlingly attractive addition to a shabby Christchurch suburb that had long-since said goodbye to its heyday. Designed by Andrew Barclay and Scott Koopman of Warren & Mahoney Architecture, the award-winning building has held up well. The same can’t be said for the still-shabby suburb that surrounds it. However, I was so caught up in blue skies and shimmering architecture when I visited New Brighton yesterday that I was prepared to forgive the place almost anything. http://www.warrenandmahoney.com/

And from the front - the 'sails' that give the library visitors shade from the sun; and the boat-like view of Salt Cafe, which is part of the library complex. I took these photographs when I biked out to New Brighton yesterday.

I hope you'll take particular note of the classic Canterbury blue skies!

Community Heart

South Christchurch Library, August 2008. Ajr

I’ve always enjoyed the architecture of South Christchurch Library. Designed by the Christchurch architectural practice, Warren and Mahoney, it sits under a cluster of leafy trees, heading south on Colombo Street – a restful little enclave, that has won a bounty of architectural and design awards. There’s something almost Zen and temple-like about the roof pitch and the way the glazed façade interacts with the mini-moat and the broad sweep of grassy lawn that surrounds it. www.warrenandmahoney.com

Sunset City

Oxford Terrace, Christchurch. June 2008. Ajr

I'm seldom in the city at sunset but when I am I'm usually busy with the camera - catching the light and shadows on buildings. This is a side view of the new(ish) Warren and Mahoney-designed apartment block on Oxford Terrace that overlooks the Avon River.