Located on a corner site in an industrial precinct off College Hill in Auckland, the two-level Hargreaves St commercial building is the result of an owner occupier development. The commercial brief was to create upper-level single floor plate tenancy of just over 1000 Sq.m. In addition to this brief, we sought to create a pedestrian focussed street frontage including re-establishing a footpath, kerbline and corner definition.

As its basis, it uses the existing chassis of the mechanics workshop that had previously occupied the location – repurposing the existing concrete structure to expand upon this and fill its perimeter to the street edge, while springing off its upper platform to contain a voluminous level one work floor. The lower level provides street addresses to new smaller commercial tenancies along its length – sleeving behind it a central parking and utilities area.

The interior shell keeps intact this “memory” of the original building / exposing parts of the remaining structure and continuing its industrial DNA with exposed structural frames and services. Overlaid with this all is a singular light (white) palette that seeks to bind these elements into one. This is offset with strong purposeful material selections in key locations including the common area bar and the warm rich hues contained within the board room.Quietly powering the development is a grid of rooftop solar panels with enough capacity to cover daytime operations of the main tenant.

Project details: Construction completed 2020. Tim Hay and Jeff Fearon are the design architects. Fearon Hay’s project team led by Doug Weir. Photographs by Michelle Weir.

Recognition: Winner of Gold 'Best Award' (DINZ Best Awards 2021) Winner of NZIA Auckland Architecture Award 2021