New Zealand Commercial Design Trends Series NZ Commercial Design Trends Vol. 35/01C | Page 12

developed the office building above those.”
This north side of the site now forms The Grove
dining precinct, including grassed and landscaped
areas for public use, and a quirky sound shell by
Wraight & Associates that opens to provide a stage
for entertainers, and provides a wind break function.
Soder says No.1 Sylvia Park needed to be
designed as a landmark building rather than the
typical office park building.
“It’s in a retail environment – with a lot of fashion
retail. When you buy something like perfume, it
comes in a beautiful bottle and is wrapped with
beautiful packaging.
“The building itself is cuboid, and we looked at the
search | save | share at
envelope and how we could wrap and package it.”
The result is a building with four distinct facades.
But these are not just decorative, surface treat-
ments – instead they are integral to the design and
functioning of the building.
To gain as much space as possible for the new
dining precinct, the building was pushed as close
as possible to the south of the site, adjacent to the
motorway overpass running in an east-west direction.
“So we placed the core on the south side, and
this facade is quite solid with few openings. But it
has strong black and white projections forming bay
windows looking east and west to pick up on the
directional movement of the traffic.”
Below:The north facade is a
fully glazed curtain wall, with
horizontal black and white
sun louvres. Three food and
beverage outlets at ground floor
help integrate the new building
into the centre’s existing dining
options.
Facing page:A grassed and
landscaped plaza on the north
side of No.1 Sylvia Park provides
an attractive outdoor public
space, as well as being a venue
for entertainment.