ADNZ/RESENE 2010 NATIONAL DESIGN AWARDS

Cymon Allfrey Architects was asked to create a logistics centre accommodating 6000 shipping pallets plus office space for multiple associated tenants.

To accommodate the shipping pallets, Cymon Allfrey created a building 6700m² and 11m high. One project challenge was scale the need to place three small site management spaces onto the warehouse road facade. The solution was to craft a strong, rectilinear form which floated over an understated box containing a stair and small store manager's office. Cladding the first-floor box in cedar battens provided a textural contrast to the tilt-up walls.

Conceptually the office building references the form of shipping containers stacked four high, placed at right angles. A wall of glazing links the two stacks addressing the road, exposing office space. This allows a strong relationship with the street, light penetration and also visual separation from the industrial surroundings.

This building draws on materials and colour from the adjacent warehouse. The stair and entry is screened by a stained cedar and blued-steel lattice, creating both an indicator to the building's entrance and the effect of an interstitial space, where users of the building step from the more refined office spaces and reconnect with the industrial site as they navigate between levels.