BY DESIGN
Accidental architecture
S Richard Dalman Managing Director, Dalman Architects dalman.co.nz
ince the Christchurch earthquakes, the Terrace Car Park development behind the CBD has been in a constant state the hospitality strip’s restaurants and bars. of change: damaged buildings still Because the intended building in front on standing vacant, mixed with surviving Hereford Street has not yet been constructed, buildings under repair and vacant sites the tall, raw concrete panels (designed to sit adjacent to new projects under construction. against the proposed building) are there to While some may see this combination as be seen by all. jumbled, I would argue that it has been an While some may see this ‘accidental opportunity to observe interesting new views architecture’ as a blight on the cityscape, it has of old buildings and unintended views of aroused a curiosity on social media sites with new buildings. people commenting on the concrete-surrounded The northern façade of the old Government Timezone branded shopfront as being Building, now the Heritage Hotel, in Worcester “dystopian”, “brutalist”, and “a sci-fi movie set”. Street has been visibly ‘opened up’ and can be As the architects of this development, now seen almost as a whole from the vacant we spent most of our efforts designing the sites opposite. While I have always enjoyed curvaceous black metal façade to the south the oblique view of this building – recognised facing the small square – now buzzing with as perhaps the best example of a Renaissance new hospitality venues – as that was the style Italianate Palazzo in New Zealand – the building aspect that would be most visible. full-on frontal exposes the grand architecture Having said that, we are still ‘honoured’ that in all its ornate glory. the Hereford Street façade has received so A less elegant but still large-scale example much media attention, even if it is ‘accidental’ of a new building exposure, is the ‘back’ of and was never intended to be seen!
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