2025 Canterbury Architecture Awards Winner
Wainui Church Conversion
Wainui Church is an exemplary adaptive reuse project, blending preservation with clearly articulated contemporary interventions. The detailing is clever, with fine angles bordering the existing windows to abut the new cladding, and the new roof insulation pulled back off the façade to maintain the fineness of the fascia. A new west-facing opening with a sliding screen is the only suggestion of what is inside. Here, a steel mezzanine hovers off the existing structure, with a sculptural spiral stair to the primary bedroom. The footprint is compact but includes a kitchen, television room, with the children’s room, and bathroom tucked in the vestry. Rich and colourful material choices are used throughout. The project is a testament to the potential of adaptive reuse and extends the life of a special building.
- Practice
- Warren and Mahoney Architects New Zealand Ltd and Objects LTD in association
- Category
- Small Project Architecture
- Location
- Canterbury
