Hocken Building (Former)

85 Albany Street, DUNEDIN

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The Hocken Building (Former) designed by the Dunedin firm of McCoy & Wixon for the University of Otago is a monumental example of late Modernism on the Dunedin campus. Its height, textures and strong forms make the building visible from many parts of inner Dunedin and it has a major effect on the campus environment. It was the last major building constructed as part of an expansion of the university in the 1970s which saw the campus extend across the Water of Leith to the block bounded by Cumberland, Castle, Albany and St David Streets. The building was known in its planning phase as Arts II and named the Hocken Building on its completion in 1979. It was renamed in 2002 after John Larkins Cheese Richardson (1810-1878), the first Vice-Chancellor of the University. The brief for the Arts II building was set out in 1969-70 and the building was to have housed the departments of Anthropology, Geography, Education and Economics. The brief was extended to incorporate space for the archives and collections of the Hocken Library for which the building was later named. The Faculty of Law also gained space in the building part way through the planning process. This complex brief for a multi-functional building was to provide staff offices and teaching spaces, an exhibition gallery and a number of other specialised spaces including a Moot Court for the Department of Law and laboratories for the Department of Anthropology. Edward John (Ted) McCoy (1925-) and Peter Wixon (1927-2004) formed the partnership of McCoy & Wixon in 1967. Their previous projects for the University of Otago included University College (1969) and the Archway Lecture Theatres (1973). The building was constructed in steel reinforced concrete by Fletcher Construction Ltd. Its frame was clad with pre-cast concrete panels with joints and intersections clearly defined. The building was divided into three asymmetrical bays that broke down its visual mass and allowed vistas across the open space of the Union Lawn to the banks of the Waters of Leith. McCoy & Wixon gained the New Zealand Institute of Architects National Award for the Hocken Building in 1983. It was included in the DOCOMOMO ‘top nineteen’ list of buildings, sites and neighbourhoods in 1999 and published in Dennis Sharp and Catherine Cooke (eds), The Modern Movement in Architecture: Selections from the DOCOMOMO Registers (010 Publishers, Rotterdam, 2000).

Hocken Building (Former) | Michael Findlay | 01/01/2010 | NZ Historic Places Trust

Location

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List Entry Information

Overview

Detailed List Entry

Status

Listed

List Entry Status

Historic Place Category 1

Access

Private/No Public Access

List Number

7809

Date Entered

10th October 2011

Date of Effect

10th October 2011

City/District Council

Dunedin City

Region

Otago Region

Extent of List Entry

Registration includes the land described as Lots 2-9 Deeds Plan 278, (RTs OT327/12, OT327/13 and OT16D/301) Otago Land District, and the building known as the Hocken Building (Former) and its fittings and fixtures thereon. This section is supplemented by visual aids in Appendix 1 of the registration report.

Legal description

Lots 2-9 Deeds Plan 278 (RTs OT327/12, OT327/13 and OT16D/301) Otago Land District.

Location Description

The Hocken Building (now known as the Richardson Building) is located on the University of Otago campus on the closed off street grid following the previous line of Castle Street. It is building F5.05 on the University of Otago campus map and it is accessible from the Cumberland Street entrance to the campus.

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