Your Business: Award winners have quake city project

Andrew Mitchell (left), Andrew Patterson and Davor Popadich are directors of Patterson Associates. Photo / Paul Estcourt

The internationally recognised Auckland architectural and urban design practice Patterson Associates has created a number of well-known New Zealand buildings over the years.

Founder Andrew Patterson was behind the redevelopment of the former Nestle factory in Parnell, now called the Axis building.

The nearby award-winning office building Cumulus is another of his, as well as the Stratus apartments in the Viaduct and the Michael Hill Club House in Queenstown.

Patterson Associates is also designing the first new building in Christchurch to be built after the earthquake, the Christchurch Botanical Gardens' visitor centre, scheduled to start construction at the end of the year.

Designed with strong environmental values, the centre will include a conference area and a research library.

The architectural firm, with an office in Christchurch as well as Auckland, is keen to help with the rebuilding of the city.

It is among the architects working with the Christchurch City Council and the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority to create a master plan for the city, a complex challenge.

"I have a vested interest," says director Andrew Mitchell, a Cantabrian.

With a track record of residential, mixed use and commercial properties, the firm was ready to do some public work, says Mitchell. Pattersons was founded in 1998, incorporating to become Patterson Associates in 2008.

It has just been named by World Architectural News as one of five international practices set to shape the future of 21st century architecture.

The firm at present has two projects in Sydney but does not want to be like the big architectural firms having "a big engine to feed", the two directors say. The firm has 20 permanent staff, with three directors, Patterson, Mitchell and Davor Popadich.

The company's relatively small size does not hold them back, says Patterson. They have three or four architects working on any large project, just as larger firms do.

With sustainability a key factor in all their projects, the firm also collaborates with a number of external consultants, engineers and environmental experts.

One of its most important projects at the moment, calling in environmental engineers, is the Geyser building under construction in Parnell Rd. It will be New Zealand's first six-green-star building in the country. The office/retail complex, commissioned by Samson Corporation, will be designed to use 27 per cent of the energy of a typical building its size.

The firm had a number of ongoing large projects when the recession hit, so barely felt the downturn. The firm's approach, says Mitchell, was just to do every project as well as they could.

"You're only as good as your last job," he says.

The architectural practice has $220 million of its designs under construction. Patterson has had few property-developer clients for its commercial projects, working generally for investors.

The firm has done a number of residential coastal properties over the years. When Patterson and Mitchell first started out they built Nigel Horrocks' house at Karekare, where he has his recording studio.

It is working on luxury lodge accommodation at the Annandale Station on Banks Peninsula. It has also taken on a number of urban residential projects, winning an international award for the Mai Mai house in Freemans Bay, a home whose exterior is transformed by a different projection every night.

The house was shortlisted in the houses category of the World Architecture Festival in Barcelona as one of the best 16 houses in the world, says Patterson. With any house, "it's all about finding a sense of belonging for people".