2021 Gold Masterbuild Commercial Project Award and Tourism & Leisure Category Winner!
Designed by Wilkie + Bruce, the strong elliptical form of the chapel stands up to the corner of the site to announce its presence to the city. The Christchurch Central Methodist Parish has embraced this bold design to replace their heritage church building which was irreparably damaged in the Christchurch earthquakes. The loss of the building has been seen as an opportunity to build a new place of worship that is much more than a building. It will be a place of gathering; of ministry and outreach to the community. A collection of meeting spaces is included to meet the diverse needs of this inner-city church.
The main structure consists of concrete floors, insitu concrete columns and beams, structural steel, blockwork, curved LVL timber framing and timber framing. Cladding is a striking combination of Euroline Coloursteel and zinc metal cladding, stone plastered fibre cement, exposed block and Nu-wall aluminium weatherboard. A set of 3-metre-high doors salvaged from the existing church are included in the design.
The Chapel wall construction is elliptical and has an impressive 10-metre-high raking roof fitted with curved skylights and lined internally with Innowood timber battens. The internal finishes to the elliptical walls are also raking. The Chapel and Auditorium can be separated by 7.200m high operable wall. The first floor has a fully furnished 3-bedroom apartment and the ground floor includes a full commercial kitchen.
