Newlands Community Centre / CCM Architects

Architect: CCM Architects
Location: Newlands, Wellington New Zealand
Design Team : Richard Almand, Guy Cleverley, Dongsei Kim, Thanh Ngyuen
Project Managers: Wellington City Council
Client: Wellington City Council
Engineers: Spencer Holmes Structural, Michael Stretton Building Services
Landscape Design: John Powell
Project year: 2006-2008
Photographs: Paul McRedie

This project is a community centre for the people in the outer residential suburb of Newlands, Wellington. The site is at the back of a small suburban shopping centre and immediately adjacent a tavern (it is actually built on one of the taverns old carpark areas.) CCM Architects was commissioned to provide a design that met the aspirations of the Newlands Community.

Carried out over a period of two years the issues were many and varied. The design solutions needed to address the following issues

1. Identity; This is a strong community who wanted to have pride in their community centre.
2. Urban Design; The site is at the back of an older suburban shopping area and the urban form needed transform and reinforce a street presence from what was essentially a sea of asphalt.
3. Site Contour and Orientation; The site had a cross fall of three metres. This needed to accommodate level access for people with disabilities.
4. Street Presence; The site is situated on a back street. It was critical that the building be easily identified from a distance. The 3 metre cross fall dictated the entry location to the southern side of the building in the right of way adjacent the tavern. So it was a critical issue to ensure the entrance although around a corner, was signalled from the street and easy to locate for visitors.
5. Community; With many varied and competing interests the design had to provide a functionality that accommodated the communities outline brief.
6. Cost; Being publicly funded the project required transparent processes that were cost effective.
7. Ongoing Maintenance; The project needed to be easily maintained over the long term.

The building has been open since late last year and is proving a destination and popular venue for the community.