New Plymouth design firm Jackson Architects has taken out a NZIA Western Branch 2018 Commercial Architecture Award for Te Henui Chapel, a sensational conversion of some old New Plymouth District Council Parks Department depot sheds into a modern and future proofed chapel, which respects the historical and tikanga Maori aspects of its location.
Te Henui Chapel is Taranaki’s newest, stateof-the-art life event facility, set inside the historic Te Henui gates amongst established, park-like grounds.
It comprises a 150-seat auditorium with adjoining reception lounge, equipped with kitchen and servery.
Jackson Architects associate architect Scott Ferguson says his design brings as much natural light into the building as possible, and is sympathetic to its surrounding environment. His brief was to utilise existing sheds and site infrastructure to gain economies.
“A nice, leafy lane is the access to Te Henui Cemetery, and we wanted to create a building which was sympathetic to that, the existing site, and the cemetery,” he says. “We had to maximise the green space area and the building environment as much as possible.
Utilising the existing steel structure of the sheds we were able to open up the lane side of the building with extensive glazing to gain as much access and views to the leafy lane as possible.”
The height of the existing buildings was a constraint for Jackson Architects to overcome. “Chapels are traditionally quite large and this wasn’t a huge structure,” Scott says.
“The solution was to maintain the existing floor slabs and roof purlins of the structure for a lobby and l ounge space leading in to the main chapel and event area.”
There were constraints on the design of the chapel too, since the site is neighboured by residential properties. “We had to be very cautious about the size of the building and what the neighbours would be able to see,” Scott says.
The chapel itself is an efficient, solid walled, introspective space, with a lofty, Meranti Plywood acoustic ceiling floating on ribbon windows giving an important 360 degree connection with the sky, unencumbered by terrestrial clutter, and its low pitch connecting to the entrance of the building.
An elegant space suitable for reflection and celebration, Te Henui Chapel is flooded with natural light, drawing people in, softly enveloping them, and providing a welcome sense of shelter and protection to visitors at a time when emotions are heightened. Walking out of the chapel towards the lobby gives a view into the green space outside.
Set inside the historic Te Henui gates amongst established, park-like grounds. Te Henui Chapel comprises a 150-seat auditorium with adjoining reception lounge, equipped with kitchen and servery.
The project completes a five year master plan for the client, Eagars Funerals, on this site, and Jackson Architects has been involved in previous stages.
“We actually designed another chapel which would have involved the complete demolition of the old buildings, which got all the way to resource consent before Eagars Funerals decided to sit on it for a while,” Scott says.
“They came to us for the upgrade and conversion of an existing house into an office, and the conversion of an existing shed into a mortuary.
They decided to give us a go for the design of the chapel as well, and we provided a cool design from the start. It didn’t change from that, they loved the images we provided, and they loved the colours.”
As well as winning the NZIA Western Branch 2018 Commercial Architecture Award, Te Henui Chapel took out a 2018 New Zealand Commercial Project Gold Award for its builder Pepper Construction.
“Everyone was pretty happy in terms of design and construction,” Scott says. “The detailing was there.”
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