In March 2023, the Winter Gardens were fully re-opened to the public following a complex two-year project to seismically upgrade and undertake major repairs and improvements to the glasshouses and wider site. The repairs and strengthening works were complex and required a number of changes to the structures, which have been carried out with the utmost care and attention to detail to ensure that the heritage values of the place have been protected and enhanced. This icon site has been conserved for the future. This has been accomplished on time and within the original estimates on behalf of Auckland Council.
This building, designed in 1929 by Roy Lippincott, is the University of Auckland’s flagship building and its heritage character was central to Salmond Reed Architects’ involvement in the project. Heritage considerations, such as reversibility – the ability to readily remove any new fit-out elements in the future without compromising the original heritage fabric – were central to the design approach.
The brief called for maximum acoustic privacy between individual offices and for the provision of a comfortable working environment using natural and mechanical ventilation. It was also important to maintain transparency and continuity at the interface between the atrium and the south wing at both levels, using predominantly transparent partitions and to maintain the transfer of light from the main stairwell into the atrium.
