Christchurch Peace Bell Pavilion wins awards

The Peace Bell Pavilion at the Christchurch Botanic Gardens has garnered three design awards; two from the New Zealand Institute of Architects and one from the New Zealand Concrete Society.

The stunning Pavilion houses a replica of the original World Peace Bell at the United Nations Headquarters in New York.

The Peace Bell is made from smelted coins and medals donated by 103 countries and was gifted to Christchurch in 2005 by the World Peace Bell Association.

The awards focus on the unusual design concepts of the pavilion to achieve a truly distinctive architectural gem.

An ingenious use of pumice (a light, porous, glassy lava) and cantilevering achieves the effect that the massive roof is light and suspended in mid-air.

This effect is further enhanced by the stainless steel supporting columns that reflect their surrounding and are almost invisible from a distance.

The pavilion won for the Christchurch City Council's Capital Programmes Group The Resene Local Award for Architecture and The Resene Colour Award, Canterbury branch category wins from the New Zealand Institute of Architects.

The New Zealand Concrete Society awarded the Group, previously called City Solutions, The Landscape Award with the citation: "This elegant piece of landscape architecture not only required concrete to be used innovatively but provides a most appropriate setting for celebrating a symbol of peace. Light weight concrete has been formed into a subtly detailed and penetrated slab. Its slender supporting structure impacts lightly on the landscape and avoids disturbing the surrounding areas."

The Pavilion is also up as a finalist in the Best Design Awards from the Design Institute of New Zealand being held today (Friday) in Auckland.

Capital Programme's Architect, Crispin Schurr says he sought an interpretation of the Japanese pagoda while designing the pavilion.

"We aimed to design the pavilion as a modernist interpretation of a more traditional Asian vernacular," says Mr Schurr.

The Peace bell is anchored under a central circular perforation and above a shallow pool on the timber floor, both designed so as to show the bell in the best natural light and reflection.

The Peace Bell Pavilion stands at the focus of the Asian collection at the Botanic Gardens.

"The concept was a poetic description of balance, potential and human traits," says Mr Schurr. "The precarious balance of the whole, the massive weight of the slab on a tangled, disorganised array of individual threads, reminds us that in this peak oil, nuclear age, modern civilisation still remains precariously balanced, and that future world peace is still something worthy of contemplation."

The construction was undertaken by Craig McNabb and was commended by the NZIA jury as having "exceptional attention to detail and materiality".

The Peace Bell hangs suspended in its pavilion, a physical and metaphorical regulator of the construct, waiting to be rung.

It last rang on September 21 to mark the International Peace Day in Christchurch.