Located on what was once a fertile river valley this site is significant to Māori people.
With more than 21,000m2 of premium-grade lettable space – office space above, high quality retail space below – it is a significant building in every sense. Facing onto Auckland’s Queen Street, the structure covers an entire city block and incorporates the sensitively-restored, heritage-listed Jean Batten Building.
The 1930’s Jean Batten Building survives today as a relatively rare example of a “Streamline Moderne” building with its horizontal bands of glass, rounded corners and Art Deco fins. The new building acknowledges the Jean Batten Building by having a plinth at the same height as the Jean batten facades. A “Reconciliation” wall with limestone fins along the Shortland Street façade of the new building assists in the integration of the new building with the old.
The Deloitte Centre has the distinction of being the first commercial high-rise building in New Zealand to be awarded a NZGBC 5 Green Star rating and subsequently a 5 Green Star As-Built Rating. The high-rise has a unique double-skin façade on the Queen Street elevation that utilises high performance low emissivity glass to help the tower stay warmer in winter and cooler in summer. To balance light transmission and heat gain a 600mm cavity extracts hot air at the top while inlets at the base draw cooler air in, maintaining the internal facade’s consistent temperature. Further sustainable design elements include low water usage fittings and extensive metering of energy and water usage.
Such a large building could easily overwhelm its environment. But the innovative design, based on a glazed sculptural form above a podium sympathetic to the much smaller Jean Batten Building, delivers a large contemporary building that is entirely at home with its smaller, older neighbours.
In association with Woods Bagot and Conservation Architects, Dave Pearson Architects.
