From small kauris do Supreme Courts grow

In Warren and Mahoney’s Wellington offices sits a small kauri cone. This modest object, with precise spirallyarranged overlapping scales, was the catalyst for the main courtroom in the new Supreme Court building.

The Supreme Court building and its revitalised partner, the former High Court building of 1881, now house New Zealand’s highest judicial institution. After
almost six years in a temporary dwelling, the Supreme Court of New Zealand has a home of its own.

“The self-belief of a young New Zealand in building the old High Court was remarkable,” says Wellington-based Warren and Mahoney director, Roy Wilson. “A strong sense of this history and the same confidence in our country’s future pervaded the design team that worked on the new Supreme Court.”

 

Designed by architect Pierre Burrows, the Category I historic building sat unused for most of the past two decades, presenting both a restoration and architectural challenge when it was decided to build the new Supreme Court alongside and
integrate the two.

The design was a collaboration between Warren and Mahoney’s Wellington
and Christchurch offices, under directors Bill Gregory (Christchurch) and Roy
Wilson (Wellington), with heritage architect Chris Cochran and Christchurch
artist Neil Dawson.

Chris Cochran’s speciality, Warren and Mahoney’s experience in the restoration
of Parliament buildings, and the willingness of tradespeople to come out of retirement to assist in the restoration, were key to the rejuvenation of the original High Court to an ‘as new’ condition. In fact the addition of base isolator
technology – lead and rubber bearings beneath the old building to cradle it from
the worst effects of shaking earthquakes – means it can fairly claim to be superior to the original.

After extensive consultation with the Supreme Court judiciary, the NZ Historic
Places Trust, the Ministry for Arts, Culture and Heritage, Wellington’s new Supreme Court, with the old High Court behind The exterior bronze screen was inspired by native pohutukawa and rata trees The Supreme Court courtroom is modelled on a kauri cone, free-standing and ovoid in shape Ministry for the Environment, Ministry of Justice ministers and Wellington City Council, the design of the new Supreme Court was revealed in September 2006.

Connecting old with new

The challenge for the designers lay in connecting a court for 21st century New
Zealand with a 130-year-old heritage building in a way that does full justice to both – and to our past, present and future.

The design sought to complement, not overpower or dominate, its venerable partner – humanitarian and approachable rather than the ‘monumental’ of court houses of the past. It set out to reflect ‘open justice’ in a way that must have
been inconceivable in the earlier era, when buildings were, by nature, imposing
and exclusive.

Such has been the commitment to openness that the proceedings within the court house will be visible from Lambton Quay.

The Supreme Court courtroom is the significant internal space at the centre of the new building. Separated from the rest of the building structure by light
voids, it is modelled on a kauri cone, free-standing and ovoid in shape.

The new building’s unique New Zealand touches also include use of sustainable native timber inside, and an exterior bronze screen depicting native pohutukawa
and rata trees. This twostorey facade is a complex piece of engineering; weighing 90 tonnes, it is made from 88 recycled, extruded and welded panels, each 8 metres high. The screen provides solar screening, glare control, privacy and security.

The new building has concrete and steel support braces so that it moves with the
ground during an earthquake.

Appropriately for New Zealand’s highest court, elements of the building were completed in different parts of the country, involving people from across New Zealand. In particular, the alloy for the bronze screen was recycled and smelted in Christchurch, extruded into lengths in Wellington, and forged in Thames. The native timber joinery was milled in Southland and manufactured in New Plymouth. All timbers used were from sustainable sources.

The project also created an opportunity to pass on old skills, with many retired plasterers working on the restoration of the old High Court building’s external
facade and passing on their knowledge to younger tradespeople.