Competition Entries

Sarjeant Gallery

This competition was for the design of major additions to an existing art gallery in Wanganui which is of considerable historical and architectural merit. The challenge was to fulfil a complex brief for a large, contemporary addition that would not overwhelm or detract from the original building.

We elected to repeat the forms of the original building but in a more abstract way. The actual design consists of a two level wing connected to the existing by means of a double height foyer in the form of a skylit 5.0m diameter "rotunda" . The rotunda contains a staircase which becomes the primary access from the new, lower level entry to the upper level galleries and is clad in Oamaru stone both sides. The external walls of this link are largely glazed to provide some transparency and allow the new addition to meet the existing walls "lightly".

Externally the building form is broken down in scale to reflect the massing of the existing building with a strong but simplified cornice detail continuing the line of the existing. The solid walls of the new forms are treated in Oamaru stone similar to the original but progressively change to stucco and more abstract detailing as one moves around the northern elevation.