Carlaw Park

Carlaw Park – named for the former rugby league ground that used to occupy much of the site – is a city-fringe regeneration project.  

The development includes an innovative office building with 12,000m² of flexible space, a 40-room hotel, a childcare centre, and a 600-space carpark.  There are also small-scale café and retail spaces. 

The project has been conceived as a new area of the city – essentially commercial architecture as urban infrastructure. 

The masterplan, which aims to provide an anchor for the redevelopment of both the Carlaw Park site and the surrounding Stanley Street precinct, provides for access to the nearby Auckland Domain.  It also uses public open spaces to define and delineate between the mixed uses.  And considerable emphasis has been placed on the quality of the hard-landscaping design. 

The 4 Green Star rated main building has two entries – an entry from Nichols Lane and a second entry from Carlaw Park Avenue – and is designed for long-term flexibility.  Areas of 2,800m², 1,400m², and 700m² are available on each of the three floors.  This is made possible through the arrangement of a central core and circulation atrium serving both wings.  All services are centralised within the core, and this includes circulation stairs that double as the fire egress. 

The external façade has been designed to bring mass to the architecture by using a balance of solid wall and full-height glazing. The language of inset glazing zones, external solar control louver systems (east and west facades), and vertical runners counter-balances the tone, weight and scale of the pre-cast concrete panelling.