Tūranga - Christchurch City Library

New library takes inspiration from surrounding landscape

The multimillion-dollar new central library in Christchurch draws on the features of Canterbury’s landscapes. Ashby’s is proud to have been part of creating a new focal space for locals and visitors to the city alike.At a whopping 9850 m2, the $65 million Tūranga is the largest public library in the South Island. Since its opening in October 2018, it has attracted plenty of praise for its stunning architectural design and build. Situated on the corner of Cathedral Square and Colombo and Gloucester streets, Tūranga is a prominent part of Christchurch’s cityscape post-earthquake.

Kiwi firm Architectus led the project in partnership with Danish library design experts schmidt hammer lassen, with local iwi also playing a key role in its development. The terraces and openings on the building’s upper floors face culturally-significant touchstones of the Canterbury landscape and beyond (Kā Tiritiri o te Moana – Southern Alps; Aoraki; Horomaka / Pātaka o Rākaihautū – Banks Peninsula; Maungatere – Mt Grey; and Hawaiki – according to oral traditions, one of the places of origin of New Zealand's earliest settlers).

The golden aluminium façade reflects the undulating nature of the nearby Port Hills, while also drawing on inspiration from the angular fronds of the native harakeke flax that originally grew in swamps around the site.

The facility includes an innovation zone with 3D and laser printers, music and video-editing studios, a 200-seat arena, children and family zones, a dedicated reading room, café, and two large outdoor terraces. It’s expected to receive about 2,000 visitors every day.

Among the notable building solutions in this project was the usage of post-tensioned hybrid concrete shear walls and steel moment resisting frames to the perimeter of the building. Meanwhile, the gravity frame consists of structural steel superstructure and concrete-filled tubular composite columns boasting suspended pre-cast concrete floor systems.

The decision to use pre-cast concrete flooring systems also ensured greater future-proofing and flexibility within ceiling voids. This innovative solution offers a resilient, high-performance, low-damage design: ticking many of the boxes required in the project design brief.