Captivating new canopy for the Auckland Art Gallery

New Zealand’s oldest – and now the newest – art gallery has recently undergone major restoration and expansion work, which has transformed the building into a spectacular, world-class cultural facility. The $121 million project, led by Hawkins Construction, included restoration of its heritage features as well as strengthening, expansion and modernisation.

Some of the building’s most dominant and capti - vating new features are the beautiful kauri canopy and magnificent kauri columns at the main entrance, and whilst these provide the ‘wow’ fac - tor for first-time visitors, not many know the story behind their development. The kauri ‘palm trees’ which appear to support the roof are made from timber that fell due to natural causes, meaning no precious trees were cut down for this purpose. Wallace Construction installed the completed canopy.

The design for these magnificent structures goes back a number of years. Papakura Scissor Lifts, Boom Lifts, Aluminium Scaffolds, Mobile Towers and Swinging Stages For all of your access requirements contact the industry leaders Instant Access! Phone: 0800 INSTANT www.instantaccess.co.nz Auckland - Wellington 0800 467 826 Joinery started working on the prototype roof in 2008. The company has a long history of craftsmanship. Founded in 1957, it flourished in the building booms of the 1960s and ‘70s and through diversi - fication and innovation is now at the forefront of the joinery industry within New Zealand.

For the Art Gallery project, the company was commissioned to construct 22 full canopy sections for the ceiling, six half sections, and 23 kauri columns up to 15 m high. Approximately 250 cu m of kauri was utilised to complete the project.

Near-perfect planning

Glenn Haszard, director of Papakura Joinery, says making something new and never seen before required near-perfect planning and skill execution. “A prime requisite was the demand for a master level of timber joinery,” he says. “Our joinery team spent in excess of 85,000 hours on this project.”

Project manager Jim Irvine says, “In the beginning, when the bases were being built, two carpenters were involved, the reason being that these huge parts of the building are structured like a house. A subframe was generated, 200 mm less than the finished shape, which allowed for a 150 mm timber sub-frame and lami - nated curved ply shape to be formed – the substrate onto which the finished kauri would be fixed. The kauri board neg - ative detail’s accuracy could not be more than 0.1 mm on an interlocking corner.”

All fixings of kauri were concealed, with the com - pany utilising back screwing and gluing. “Every effort was made to have the colour hues matching on every individual panel, creating a unified impression,” Jim explains. “Full-time staff were employed to grade both quality and colour. A key element of the whole work was the incredible fine adjustment – the curves dictated that every kauri board had to be considered individually, manu - factured then adjusted on its base with surgical precision.”

Complementary seating

The company also com - pleted several specially designed seats, which are works of art in themselves and augment the luxury of the Art Gallery. Noteworthy is the fine handwork involved in their construction.

Every seat includes 197 pieces of individually pro - cessed wood. Laminated kauri elements were glued up in 13 layers and then 3D elements were created with a computer-generated programme on a CNC (computer numerical control) machine. The end result is an accuracy of within 0.1 mm.

Another secret is concealed inside the kauri columns that support the canopy. “What’s inside there? Huge gutters for the rainwater, where no one would ever think to look,” Glenn laughs.

A nation’s heritage

Glenn says it was a fantastic experience for his team. “It’s absolutely mindblowing to see the end result of this job. We have watched the different pieces come together like a puzzle – it’s been a real adventure.

“Like our team, visitors will be left with a desire to return again and again to the Art Gallery to be in the presence of the kauri. To experience this environment is to be a part of our nation’s heritage. It makes us feel very special. Just as the kauri tree has lived in the forest for hundreds of years, now it will shine here amongst us as it so deserves. Our lives have left prints for the next generation.”