One of the major projects that formed part of the Christchurch rebuild, Te Pae Convention Centre was envisioned as an architectural and social landmark in the centre of the city.
A collaboration between Woods Bagot and Warren and Mahoney whilst working alongside the local iwi from Matapopore Charitable Trust, the design of the Christchurch convention centre continues to establish the strong cultural narrative throughout the central city. Prioritising both urban regeneration and innovation, Te Pae has been carefully designed and purpose-built to respond to the full range of activities from intimate gatherings to larger national and international events.
Completed in 2021, Te Pae Convention Centre has a total of 28,000m² of flexible spaces including a 1400-person tiered auditorium, which can be divided into two 700-person halls; 2800m² exhibition space; a 1000-seat banquet space overlooking the beautiful and iconic Otakaro Avon River; and 24 meeting rooms with capacity ranging from 50 to 1500 people. Four distinct foyers – Exhibition, Dobson, Ground Floor and Level One – give visitors and attendees easy access and exit points for Cathedral Square, Oxford Terrace, and The Avon River Precinct.
Acknowledging the importance of the Otakaro Avon River promenade, the design anticipates that this will be active as a preferred location for both locals and visitors to meet and mix. By providing an undulating plan and section, the project provides comfortable human scaled ‘microclimates’ to maximise dwell time.
Similarly, the sweeping organic curves of Te Pae’s exterior inspired by the Canterbury’s braided rivers were a key influence for both the exterior paving and the custom carpets throughout the building. GH Commercial's product development team collaborated with the architects to develop custom woven carpet for public spaces, and custom Designer Jet carpet tiles for back-of house areas.
A sumptuous 52oz/yd² custom hand-carved Axminster carpet crafted in durable 80:20 wool and synthetic was designed for the banquet space, pre-function areas and front-of-house meeting rooms. Designed with sweeping curvilinear colour-blocking in charcoal, mid-grey and light-grey hues, the woven carpet required meticulous planning. Every roll of carpet had to be manufactured in a precise order and individually labelled, as no roll was the same pattern or length, and it all had to fit together like a giant jigsaw puzzle during carpet installation.
"It was critical to ensure that no colour transition occurred at a seam and when installed that the flowing braided river design flowed continuously," the GH Commercial team said.
GH Commercial also developed two cushion-backed Designer Jet carpet tiles that were installed in the back-of-house meeting rooms, offices, control room, hallways, and an administrative building on Columbo Street, utilising the same charcoal, mid-grey and light-grey tones in a broken striated pattern. No detail was spared, no colour or carpeted pathway was by coincidence. Carefully considered to work within the surrounding heritage architecture, incorporating cultural and environmental vision drawing inspiration from Canterbury’s unsurpassed landscapes, Te Pae highlights the reembodied city focus and urban upbeat vibe. A remarkable piece of architecture and design.
