Won Architects’ Gold Medal

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30395, 20 March 1964, Page 1

Won Architects’ Gold Medal

The Memorial Garden Crematorium in Johns road, Christchurch, has won for Messrs M. Warren and Mahoney, of Christchurch, the 1963 gold medal of the New Zealand Institute of Architects. The same partnership won the 1959 medal for the Dental Nurses’ Training School in Christchurch; Messrs Hall and McKenzie won in 1960 with the new Hermitage, Mount Cook; Mr Paul Pascoe won in 1961 with the Christchurch International Airport terminal, and the Wanganui War Memorial Hall won in 1962 so Christchurch architects have had a notable run of success. Messrs Miles Warren and

Maurice Mahoney, both aged 35, have been in partnership for seven years. Among their other designs in this time have been the rebuilding of J. Ballantyne and Company; the Riccarton and Sydenham suburban stores and supermarkets of Hay’s, Ltd.; the four-storey Chapman block of laboratories and classrooms at Christ’s College; the Christchurch Wool Exchange; the Karitane Hospital; new student union buildings for the Universities of Canterbury, Auckland and Manawatu; and the new hall of residence and chapel for Christchurch College on the Ham university site. The architects’ gold medal is the highest award of the institute for the best-design work of the year. Selection is made by a panel of architects from all parts of the country. In the Memorial Garden

Crematorium a long narrow area of the site is surrounded on three sides by high white concrete block walls. The chapel is placed across this U-shaped walled area to create two courts, and is fully glazed on both sides so that the interior becomes almost part of the enclosed garden. One court is paved around h pool with a simple fountain and the other court has a long sweep Of lawn lined with trees and is open at the end to extend the view to the plains beyond. The picture shows a side view of the chapel looking from the paved courtyard across the pool and through the glass walls to the gar den court beyond. The con crete fin stands to the right and timber slatted sunscreens, shielding the upper areas of glass, are hung from the heavy wooden trusses of the roof.