Holy Trinity Cathedral Extension

• PROJECT

  Holy Trinity Cathedral Extension

• CLIENT

  Auckland Anglican Diocese

• LOCATION

  Parnell, Auckland

• STATUS

  Design

• COLLABORATORS

  RTA Studio, Hamish Nevile (Holmes, Structural), Jeremy Salmond (Salmond Reid, Heritage), Dave Fullbrook (eCubed Building Workshop, Mechanical) and David Doher (Davis Langdon, Quantities).

We were shortlisted in a competition to add a Chapel to Cathedral campus, which includes the original building by George Towle, the Richard Toy extension, and the relocated St Mary’s designed by Benjamin Mountfort.

In conjunction with RTA Studio, we proposed a Chapel which responded to the subtleties of the existing buildings, by taking the gothic arch form of the original cathedral and developing it into a series of four expanding columns, which rise above the chapel space with a sense of spatial energy and uplift. The plan responds to the grids of the Cathedral and St Mary’s, by accommodating an intriguing 5 degree shift in orientation between the two. Rammed earth walls partially enclose the Chapel space to provide intimacy and privacy, and natural light is modulated by a bronze screen, then further dappled by reflection off the low level pool of water in which the external cross stands.

The space is naturally ventilated by virtue of air movement through the sophisticated design of the four columns, which are perforated to encourage airflow and to give multiple modes of control for winter and summer environmental conditions.