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LIFE OF LEARNING

Richard Dalman Managing Director, Dalman Architects dalman.co.nz With a life-long love of learning, restoring Acland House – the boarding and dining facility for Christchurch Girls’ High School – could not have been a more appropriate project for Dalman Architects’ Associate Jennie Lee.

Built in 1893 and sustaining severe damage during the Christchurch earthquakes, the heritage building required seismic strengthening, restoration, and renovation to bring it back to its original sense of grandeur while also creating a facility that efficiently provided for the contemporary needs of its young boarders.

Jennie notes, “Historic elements were salvaged and reused where possible, with damaged decorative plasterwork replaced through producing moulds of still intact parts, whilst the layout was redesigned to create a dining hall with capacity for all 150 boarders to dine together. The dormitories and bathrooms were completely renovated, and a new porch added to emphasise the main entry.”

As a senior architect with 20 years of experience, Jennie considers Acland House one of her favourite projects, one that required a range of creative design and engineering solutions, and she enjoyed working with her all-female client team. When Jennie thinks about her own high school education, she recalls, “When I was at school, I enjoyed Science, Art, Design, and History. Architecture seemed like a good way to combine all those interests; it touches on so many different disciplines and allows me to satisfy my lifelong desire for learning. So much of architecture is problem-solving, and I think a broad education helps you to see things from different points of view and develop your problem-solving ability.” Ensuring girls studying away from their family home feel comfortable in their living environment is a critical element for their education, and the restoration of Acland House was focused on delivering a warm and homely facility conducive to this.

The restoration won NZ Institute of Architects awards for Heritage and Colour, and a NZ Society of Earthquake Engineering award for seismic strengthening of heritage buildings.