St Albans Community Centre

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  • CLIENT

    Christchurch City Council

  • DESIGNER/ARCHITECT

    Christchurch City Council

  • PROJECT VALUE

    $2,562,222

  • LOCATION

    1049 Colombo Street, St Albans, Christchurch

  • Completion

    March 2021

  • Awards

    New Zealand Architecture Awards 2022: National Winner - Public Architecture

    Canterbury Architecture Awards 2022: Regional Winner - Public Architecture

    NZIA Resene Colour Award 2022: Regional level

    Timber Design Awards 2023: Sustainable Development (Finalist)

St Albans Community Centre

The new build community centre has an entirely timber structure. Driven timber piles and LVL subfloor support the cross-laminated timber panels (CLT), which form the building frame. The panels were imported from Austria and had all service penetrations formed in the factory. This constituted an extremely detailed drawing co-ordination exercise prior to this operation, given permission to manufacture.


The concept of timber use, having the bare panels coated with a light, was further amplified by the use of a timber sprung floor in the main hall. Elsewhere, offices and meeting rooms had traditional carpet covering s with access routes being rubber tiles.


Decorative hung ceiling panels were a feature of all rooms, which incorporated the lights, AV, and sprinkler services.


Externally, the outside of the building is clad with attractive radiata pine shiplap weatherboards, giving a welcoming appearance. There was a dedicated car parking area, and the perimeter walkways consisted of block paving in a herringbone pattern. A certain portion of these was porous to allow runoff into swale areas.


A timber deck completes the building footprint, with level entry to the north-facing full-height glazing elevation.

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