Trafalgar Centre

'The Hangar', a 1973 multipurpose indoor centre for both sports and cultural events, designed by ground breaking Nelson Architect Alex Bowman, is now sporting award winning 2017 upgrades thanks to earthquake concerns and a little extra budget and forsight.

Located on the attractive Rutherford Park grounds, across the river from Trafalgar Park, the Trafalgar Centre is owned by the Nelson City Council and home to the successful Nelson Giants basketball franchise. So when it was deemed seismically unsafe in 2014, the plans for change went a little further than structural strengthening.

Called a 'reinhabitation', the improvements to the stadium, addition of an adjoining pavilion, and reorientation of externals towards the Maitai River and Maitiai River Walkway, were drawn up by Irving Smith Architects of Nelson. The stadium is now safe for up to 2500 visitors, and can be easily converted from tennis, to basketball, to concertor conference facility. The new north side and north facing pavilion is deliberately non-purpose rather than multi-purpose, anticipating users will be able to utilise the space in a myriad of different ways for any variety of events. Clad and clothed inside and out in trendy black, cedar and aluminium, it's style is a nod to the 1970s origins of the original structure.

The eaves of the low profile of the extension are planned to work at as Marae Atea with courtyard seating beyond, and clever groundworks have turned the entire complex to face the park and River. An earlier 'bookend' addition at the southern end of the building completes the complex.

The rest of Rutherford Park is also under redevelopment.

The project was a finalist in the New Zealand Architecture awards for Public Architecture, a winner of the NZIA Nelson Marlborough Architecture Award, and also won a Bronze at the 2017 International Design Awards in California.