Living in the laboratory

Carolyn Hill visits the Hills Residences on the banks of the Waikato River and finds both beauty and tenacity in the Edwards White Architects adaptive reuse project, which won last year’s Sir Ian Athfield Housing Award.

WHAT TO DO WITH A LARGE BLOCK OF LAND, overlooking the river and minutes from the CBD but encumbered with an old chemical testing laboratory and a structurally frail historic building 1 from when horses dominated the high street? It would be reasonable to assume complete demolition of the science lab and a bun fight over the fate of the heritage building. In the hands of Stark Property and Edwards White Architects, however, the former Hills Laboratory has been transformed into Hills Residences, a high-end apartment building for Kirikiriroa Hamilton’s budding inner urbanites. Making the most of a sweet spot on the eastern bank of Waikato Te Awa, alongside restaurant-studded Grey Street and adjacent Victoria Bridge into the city, Hills Residences is part of a bigger master plan – Hills…

You're reading a preview of

Architecture NZ (Digital) - 1 Issue, March-April 2025

DiscountMags is a licensed distributor (not a publisher) of the above content and Publication through Zinio LLC. Accordingly, we have no editorial control over the Publications. Any opinions, advice, statements, services, offers or other information or content expressed or made available by third parties, including those made in Publications offered on our website, are those of the respective author(s) or publisher(s) and not of DiscountMags. DiscountMags does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, truthfulness, or usefulness of all or any portion of any publication or any services or offers made by third parties, nor will we be liable for any loss or damage caused by your reliance on information contained in any Publication, or your use of services offered, or your acceptance of any offers made through the Service or the Publications. For content removal requests, please contact Zinio.