Old Bank Arcade Hotel

Service 01

Old Bank Arcade Hotel

The Old Bank Shopping Arcade built between 1899 and 1901 is situated on the corner of Lambton Quay and Customhouse Quay, Wellington, New Zealand. Thomas Turnbal built the Arcade in renaissance classical style. 

 

The wedge shaped building has Victorian tendencies, using the shape as a transition point for pedestrians, becoming an instinctive destination due to its division between two busy streets. The building was housing retail on the basement and ground level and had an engineering firm on the 1st and 2nd floor.

 

I proposed to insert a high-class contemporary hotel in the building as an insertion in contrast to the ornate style of the building. The insertion was a glass glowing box that extruded beyond the roofline of the existing building. The two floors that floated above the Arcade created the penthouse and two large 1 bedroom apartments. The translucency of the hotel allowed all seven rooms to benefit from the natural light from the windows, although exterior walls can be turned opaque with the flick of a switch to ensure privacy to all guests. 

 

A minimalistic approach was taken to emphasise contemporary design, but also attempted to allow guests to hide the facilities they may not need, such as the kitchenette or television/stereo area. 

 

The restaurant was accessed on the ground floor from either the retail or hotel foyer entrance. An oval staircase lead you to the maitredies station where you would be seated in either the lounge, bar, fine dining or function area. The fine dining area looked over the bar by a horizontal pain of 20m glass. The function area was at the apex of the building. The kitchen served the restaurant but also catered for the hotel guest’s room service and nibbles at the in-house bar.

 

My scheme was an attempt to stay within the bounds of the heritage of the building, neither replicating it nor ignoring its importance. The hotel had been designed to completely contrast against the architecture of the building whereas the restaurant modernises the ornate value of the building.