Earlier in the year, ADEDU invited students and professionals from all around the world to reimagine Wellington’s Oriental Bay Pavilion.

The site of the Band Rotunda at the Oriental Bay Pavilion has served many functions over the years – changing rooms, meeting rooms, a restaurant and an art gallery, to name a few – but has sat empty since a 2016 earthquake revealed a crack in the foundation. Thus, ADEDU asked architects, designers and local residents to think about what could become of this pivotal site for the city.

Out of several concept design submissions that showed creativity, ingenuity and sensitivity to this 530m², semi-circular site, the judges chose three winning projects and gave an additional five special mentions to teams hailing from Europe, South America and Asia.

The jury was comprised of associate director of AECOM, Harris Maragkos; University of Auckland professor, Diane Brand; Victoria University of Wellington professor, Marc Aurel Schnabel; CEO of Prefab New Zealand, Pamela Bell and president of the Oriental Bay Residents Association, Andy Thomson.

“We were impressed by the quantity and diversity of ideas to redesign the Band Rotunda in Wellington. Although it is only an ideas competition, it could leave a positive impact on the future development of the site,” the jury said. 

First prize went to Stanislaw Michalowski of Studio Michalowski from Russia who created the Wellington Wave: a community centre that blurs the lines between shore and land. The team describes their project, saying, “Pedestrians freely pass through all parts of the building and may find themselves where they want: on the roof, inside, on the beach. All movement around, inside and through the building is fluid and not constrained by sharp corners and visual barriers.”

The jury said of Studio Michalowski’s submission: “This proposal is a bold sculptural statement based on marine life form analogy. It is one of the most practical solutions but, at the same time, it contains a high degree of innovation and novelty.”

A team from Studio MPR in Argentina made up of Gaston Parrol, Agustin Ruival, Federico Masoni took second prize with the design of a flexible civic centre that can change size to meet differing requirements. Their proposal, dubbed The LOOP, recognises the changing needs of a growing city and aims to bring people together from various entry points.

The designers describe The LOOP as “two linear docks that act as guides for a single circular volume. This floating volume, aided by a system of guides and pulleys, uses two springs to have movement. Depending on the position of the volume, different interior pools are created, perfect for aquatic and recreational activities.”

“The LOOP is one of the most joyful design solution in this competition. We like the human-centred approach of the design team which pays great attention on potential activities on the waterfront,” the jury said.

A Danish team made up of Simon Strøyer Glarborg and Jonas Swienty Andresen won third prize with a three-part submission made up of a park, a pavilion and a circular bridge connecting the two. Glarborg and Andresen said, “To preserve the site as an open and public park, we propose to locate the pavilion off the coast and make the journey onto the water an important part of the experience. In the proposal, additional pavilions are shown around the bridge, suggesting that the modular system allows for additional spaces in the future.”

The jury noted of this project, named Creative Ripples: “This proposal maintains the importance of the Band Rotunda but extends the use into ‘blue space’, creating a complex configuration between water, building and public spaces.”

Five special mentions went to Yun Ji Lee and Haven Shane Knight of South Korea, Niek Koning of the Netherlands, Yue Wu and Ffion Zhang of Hong Kong, Giovanni Casalini of Italy and Klaudia Trębska of Wroclaw University of Science and Technology in Poland.

See more about the winning projects and other entrants to the competition on the ADEDU Facebook page.

The Oriental Bay Pavilion competition has been supported by Victoria University of Wellington, The University of Auckland, Wellington Institute of Technology, Resene and ArchitectureNow.