Gallery Apartments is a 14 level apartment building located in central Christchurch on a north facing 600 m2 site with a narrow 12.0m street frontage. The total building area is approximately 4000 m2.

There are 17 apartments in total with 11 in the ‘North Tower’ and 6 in the South Tower. The lower 7 levels of the South Tower contain 37 carparks all accessed by a carlift. The double height ground floor space in the North Tower is occupied by an Art Gallery.

The clients brief was to produce a contemporary Apartment Building that maximised the views to the west and the north. He specifically requested that it not be a ‘grey and white’ building, but be something more natural that would age well over time.

The narrowness of the site and its location up against the Art gallery presented several challenges.

The site was too narrow to accommodate the turning circle of a car, so the provision of carparking was solved with a carlift that provides the Apartment owners with secure access to their carparking level. The building is constructed from precast panels cast off site. The balcony elements are left as natural concrete with an acid finish. Copper has been used on the fascias and soffits of the roof which are