New Zealand School of Music

Design Brief: To design a building for the New Zealand School of Music, which is currently split between two sites in Wellington, NZ. The NZSM is currently located on two separate campuses, one at Victoria University, the other at Massey University. The pupose of the new building is to accommodate the entire school in one purpose-designed facility. The proposed facility is to be located on the corner of Ghuznee and Leeds Street in Wellington. It is to be a landmark building for the musical community, accommodating a variety of different programmes for both students and the public including an auditorium for 600, library, cafe, as well as teaching facilities. Due to Wellingtons' proximity to the Ohariu fault line, the school is structurally designed to withstand anticipated seismic activity. The client would prefer concrete to be the structural and dominate material in the project. Owing to the acoustic challenges associated with concrete, additional acoustic panelling in sound sensitive environments needs to be added.

The resulting design concept for the NZSM was derived from the mechanical nature of music; a series of integrated systems that form a composition. Throughout the facility are circulation towers that penetrate through the building. These perforations act as the cogs that drive the next generation of New Zealand musicians through the interactions of the public, students and teachers.