Warren and Mahoney | Technical Delivery Team

Designed by Thom Craig of Warren and Mahoney, the Christchurch Convention Centre opened in 1997. I worked on the project as part of the technical delivery team, alongside Thom Craig, contributing to the process of turning the architectural design into a building.

A significant part of my work was producing the details that would bring the architecture to life, using both computer drawing and hand drawing to explore, resolve and communicate the design. I have always enjoyed this part of architecture: thinking through a drawing, working out how materials meet, how elements are assembled, and how an idea on paper becomes something that can be built. The centre's exposed concrete, steel, timber and glass made this a particularly engaging exercise, with the expression of each material and the precision of its junctions contributing to the character of the finished building.

The centre was critically damaged in the February 2011 Christchurch earthquake and subsequent aftershocks, and was later demolished. Its loss was a sad end for a building that had served the city for nearly fourteen years.

For me, the project remains a reminder that architectural design does not end with the concept or the presentation drawing. It is carried through the many decisions, details and drawings that allow the original vision to survive the journey from the drawing board to the built work.