2013 Canterbury Architecture Awards Winner
Regional Terminal at Christchurch Airport
Evincing contextual awareness and a strong sense of place, eminently suitable in scale and function, this building is an excellent portal to and from the regional airports of New Zealand. A finely articulated entry façade composed of clearly distilled forms provides a welcoming entry and leads to a relaxed and casual lounge space. The simple, dynamic airside façade presents a delightful sense of movement appropriate to, and associated with, smaller-scale air travel; the demarcation from the neighbouring International Terminal is handled sensitively, to the benefit of both buildings. Materials, textures and colours are deployed subtly and sympathetically to achieve an understated substantiality, and, in the interior, an unusually tactile architecture. The project is a clever answer to the logistical problem of transporting goods through the facility to the terminals; the Architects have turned this challenge into an opportunity to scoop light into the body of the terminal.
