Higher Ground

Renowned branding think-tank Richards Partners takes on the role of a lifetime: to redefine itself and how its workplace personifies and facilitates that shift. The result is an oasis of sorts in Auckland’s city centre.

Federico Monsalve

Completed in 1913 and designed by Scottish émigré and Public Works Department draughtsman Claude Paton, the former Magistrates’ Court on Auckland’s Kitchener Street has been commended as a fine, if slightly playful, example of Edwardian baroque. Striation and rustication adorn its façade and there are expressive voussoirs with enlarged keystones above the windows. It isn’t shy of ornament, yet its colour palette and symmetry keep it firmly within the realm of restrained and sober classicism. Although Paton adhered to many of those stylistic standards, he experimented by skewing some proportions and using local materials like Ōamaru limestone and Coromandel tonalite. For Brian Richards, founder of branding and strategy firm Richards Partners, this style of building represented “a classic backdrop and contemporary foreground” for what was to become his company’s new…

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Interior (Digital) - 1 Issue, December 2019 / February 2020

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