Proarch Architects
Project Location:
State Highway 2, Masterton
Categories:
Commercial Architectural Excellence
Project Description:
The visitors centre is the entry point to the Pukaha Mount Bruce National Wildlife Centre. The existing visitors centre had a non-descript entry, and a small foyer. It quickly became cramped when bus loads of visitors arrived. A visitors centre needs to create a welcoming feel for patrons, while at the same time directing people to what they want to see in an efficient manner. To achieve this, we added a new foyer to the building which solves all of these issues, and provides a new image for the facility.
The natural materials are contrasted by a modern reception counter made from white corian. A printed image of the forest provides a glimpse of what is on display inside: a high-tech visual display of what the facility has to offer, its history, the birdlife, and the forest.
At the entry, laminated timber posts and framing is infilled with glass, and clad with timber battens, to provide screen wing walls to reduce wind being blown directly into the foyer.
The timber used is pine, which is stained to match the pine used on the existing building.