City Gallery by architecture+

ArchiPro Project Summary - Transformative renovations of Wellington's City Gallery, blending historical significance with contemporary design through strategic alterations and additions, including a theatre and new galleries, while maintaining the integrity of the original 1930s Central Library building.

Title:: City Gallery
Architect:: architecture+
Category:: Community/; Public and Cultural
Photographers:: Patrick Reynolds Photography

Wellington's City Gallery occupies the old stripped-classical 1930’s Central Library building located in Civic Square. architecture+ has been involved in this prominent civic project on a number of occasions, including the initial conversion from a library to a gallery in 1993. Since then, architecture+ has completed alterations and additions; in 2009 adding a theatre to the back and two new galleries on top; and in 2019 undertaking various refurbishments including an upgrade to the building's main entrance.

In converting the original building into a gallery, the overriding architectural challenge was to allow the rich history of the building and its previous function as a library to be recognised, despite having a new function as an art gallery. Alterations and additions have been treated as a new and contemporary layer, expressive of the contemporary focus of the gallery. The interiors are restrained to allow the installations and exhibitions to be the focus, with display walls deliberately truncated below the ceiling to both allow natural light to penetrate through the exhibition spaces and to allow the column and beam junctions to be seen.

The significant additions completed in 2009 are comprised of two additional galleries and an auditorium, which provided an opportunity to design something new and discrete from the original building. architecture+ took this opportunity to express the City Gallery’s role of challenging preconceived notions of art and design, through the unexpected materiality of the new additions. In a simple yet bold gesture, the new building was clad in a metal web-grate rain screen, where the open web provides a lightness that ensures that the addition is not domineering over the original building.

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Professionals used in City Gallery

architecture+Architects

architecture+

Architects

Wellington

architectureplus.co.nz

architecture+. architecture+ is an award-winning architectural practice based in Wellington, New Zealand. Over the past 29 years architecture+ has gained a wealth of experience across many scales – gaining expertise in civic, commercial and multi-residential projects. Since its establishment in 1994, architecture+ has steadily grown to a sizable practice, led by five directors: Stuart Gardyne, Allan Wright, Stephen Poulopoulos, Belinda Tuohy and Kirsty Chamberlain. architecture+ fosters an inclusive office culture, where our talented staff play an integral role in office and practice development. While architecture+ has a recognised design focus, we are also highly respected for our technical skills and project delivery capabilities. We have a reputation for delivering well-considered projects of consistent design quality and for our sound technical understanding of construction methods and materials. Nominating the appropriate personnel for each project is fundamental to the successful delivery of our design services. Our methodology sees the meaningful involvement of a project director throughout a project's life, while leading a team with complementary skills and fostering a culture of collaboration. Our project teams are comprised of both long-serving loyal staff with their specialist expertise and newer graduates with fresh contemporary thinking.