The client for the Colombo St Retail Building was the long term owner of the existing buildings on the site that were demolished after the Christchurch earthquakes. The brief was for a three-level building with retail on the ground floor and office space above. Forming activated retail edges to the street was an important consideration. The building covers the whole of the site and forms a corner to the Colombo Street laneway entry of The Crossing. The façade elements are designed to divide what is a horizontal building into vertical portions that provide grain to the building more representative of the scale of traditional central Christchurch retail buildings.