Celebrating and reflecting the region’s bicultural heritage, the completed Te Pae holds its own as a piece of civic architecture in the ongoing re-mending of the city. Its design embeds craft, cultural meaning and sensitivity to the place of Ngāi Tūāhuriri / Ngāi Tahu.
Puamiria Parata-Goodall is a descendent of these people and advised the architectural team on cultural values and narratives in the design process.
“The ancestral bones of the Ngāi Tahu people are in this land. Across the rebuilt city, the new Ōtautahi (Christchurch) reflects both its Ngāi Tahu and European history. Māori language, art and stories are recognised and celebrated like they haven’t been before,” Parata-Goodall says.
Conventions centers are regularly unresponsive and unforgiving to their place. Here, the architects approached the design with sensitivity to site.
Wrapped in a fluid façade of nearly 43,000 tiles—in five variations, individually numbered and placed—the building evokes the expansive braided rivers whose fast-flowing waters formed the Canterbury Plains.
Woods Bagot principal and the firm’s global civics leader, Bruno Mendes, says it’s a privilege to work on a building that culturally resonates with both Māori and Pākehā (white) New Zealanders.
“Stitching the building into the city’s new urban sensibility is essential for local vitality and the delegates attending events, many for whom Te Pae will offer their first experience of Christchurch. There are very specific moves to make the building engage strongly with what’s around it.
“That’s what’s special about the building,” says Mendes. “You’re connected to Christchurch and it couldn’t be anywhere else.”
Te Pae Christchurch Convention Centre is designed by Woods Bagot with Warren and Mahoney. Warren and Mahoney principal Peter Marshall says the facility is a much-needed asset for the city, that reflects the identity of its place.
“We feel very proud to have partnered with Ōtākaro, Matapopore Trust and Woods Bagot on this world-class facility for the people of Christchurch,” says Marshall.
At almost $450 million, the stunning convention centre represents the New Zealand government’s single biggest contribution to the regeneration of Christchurch.
Te Pae Christchurch was officially opened at an event attended by New Zealand’s Associate Finance Minister, Dr Megan Woods, on December 17.
