Waikato Business News April/May 2019

CAMBRIDGE
WAIKATO BUSINESS NEWS April/May 2019
23
PAUA Architects: Cambridge Connection
The architecture and urban design practice
that started life as Antanas Procuta
Architects and has now become PAUA
Architects was “born” in Cambridge, and
has held the development of Cambridge
and the local area close to its heart ever
since starting out operating from Antanas’
family home in Cambridge.
Over the past 24 years
Antanas and his team
have been making a
positive impact on Cambridge,
from upgrading and restoring
heritage houses like Trecarne,
and buildings like the Cambridge
Town Hall; to designing
contemporary urban homes
like the award-winning ‘Southbank’
townhouse, and a mix of
traditional and modern rural
homes for farmers and lifestylers
alike; and the urban design
of new residential developments
Le Quesnoy Place and
Cambridge Park.
The practice has also been a
long-time member and sponsor
of the Cambridge Chamber of
Commerce.
Antanas and David Pronger
(then the practice’s planner,
since retired) worked closely
with the Chamber on the
Vision Cambridge project,
which recognised the need to
make the town an attractive
lifestyle option for the families
of business people and
developers the town seeks
to attract for longer term
sustainability.
Reviving Cambridge’s
historic buildings
Director Antanas Procuta
has a particular passion for
restoration and reuse of historic
buildings, and as well as
sharing his skills in this area
through projects throughout
Waikato he previously sat on
the Waipaā District Council
heritage panel.
PAUA Architects has been
actively involved with the restoration
and upgrade of Cambridge
Town Hall since the
early 2000s, when it began
working with Waipaā District
Council to develop a masterplan
for restoration and sympathetic
upgrade of the town
landmark’s internal spaces.
A number of these projects,
starting with the bathrooms and
entrance have been completed
in keeping with the building’s
historic character, and the practice’s
relationship with council
and the town hall has continued
through assisting with a feasibility
study to make this beautiful
historic building a useful
community facility into the
future.
Cambridge is also a town
with many historic homes,
listed, protected and otherwise.
PAUA Architects has been
fortunate to help the modern
owners of several of these to
restore and upgrade so they
can continue to be useful and
enjoyed well into the future.
Cambridge’s heritage is
much more than ‘old’
buildings.
PAUA Architects’ principal
Antanas Procuta notes that
Cambridge has had the advantage
of strong planning from
the beginning with the forethought
of the original land
surveyors for the area, who in
1863 created the Cambridge
town layout that its residents
still live with successfully
today.
A feature of this is the towns
green belt, which defined the
urban realm within it’s rural
surroundings. Another value
that Cambridge identifies
strongly with is quality.
Antanas says: “Understanding
the heritage nature of Cambridge
and its historic architecture
is important, but more
important is recognising that
when the town was originally
built there was a focus on quality
and creating good architecture
for the time.
It’s this ethos that should be
continued as the town grows
and develops.
It’s not about copying the
aesthetic style of the town’s
older buildings, but about
focusing on good quality and
great design as relevant for
our current times and that will
stand the test of time.”
This focus on good design
as a legacy of early Cambridge
extends beyond buildings to
urban design.
As the population grows and
more residential properties are
needed, developments like Le
Quesnoy Place and Cambridge
Park demonstrate the success of
smaller neighbourhood clusters
and walkable urban centres in
creating a sense of community
and a quality of life Cambridge
is proud of.
The European village model
is another strong aspect of
Cambridge’s heritage, and one
that Highbridge Properties’
owners Frank and Anne Overwater
specifically had in mind
when they approached PAUA
Architects to design Le Quesnoy
Place.
PAUA Architects designed
interrelating concepts for each
of the fourteen houses and with
particular attention to the outdoor
spaces.
In the design for Cambridge
Park, the streets and sections
are laid out with a central
shared social space, the ‘village
green’, and includes easy
and attractive walking/cycling
paths, and openness between
property boundaries.
The design prepared by
PAUA (then Antanas Procuta
Architects) allows for and
encourages a variety of housing
types including townhouses,
duplexes, single, two, and
three-storey dwellings within
the same neighbourhood.
This in turn invites a diversity
of residents across age,
lifestyle, and household size,
while also providing the higher
density needed for expected
population growth, in a subtle
way that suits the nature of
Cambridge.
Tricky CBD site
demonstrates value of using
architects
The ‘Southbank’ townhouse
perches cleverly on its oddly
shaped, sloping corner site with
double road frontage on the
fringe of the Cambridge CBD.
It is projects like this, with
a small and awkward section,
where the skills of a trained
and experienced architect are
essential to resolve the difficulties
of the site and maximise its
potential.
This home won an New
Zealand Institute of Architects
Award in 2015. The judges’
citation is as follows:
“This CBD-edge, Cambridge
townhouse makes the
most of a compact site. The textured,
white-painted brick exterior
has been arranged to offer
privacy against the adjacent
street to the north, while focusing
instead on the glimpses of
trees and magnificent distant
views to the east.
The relaxed ambience
and good connections to the
landscape are a testament to
a collaborative working relationship
between architect,
interior designer, and landscape
designer.”
Rural living solutions,
whatever your style
Myers farmhouse, Roto-o-Rangi
Southbank Townhouse - Cambridge
A senior architect at PAUA
Architects, Geoff Lentz says
one of his most remarkable
designs since joining the practice
was for a very contemporary
250sqm ‘farm house’ on a
hilltop in Roto-o-Rangi.
Working with the client’s
love of art and colour, Geoff
designed a stunning new home
for the farm owners, using a
series of concrete block structures
to create a central, sheltered
courtyard.
Also in need of new workers’
accommodation elsewhere
on the farm, the same clients
commissioned PAUA to design
a more modest farm manager’s
house.
Architect Geoff Lentz’
award-winning design became
known as ‘The Red Shed’, for
its distinctive red corrugated
iron cladding, a choice which
manages to look contemporary
while referencing the traditional
rural barns.
Using the footprint of the
milking shed that stood there
previously, the u-shaped design
of the home wraps around a
roofed deck to provide outdoor
space sheltered from the prevailing
winds.
The interior uses robust,
easy care materials befitting the
home’s rural setting and nature,
but the timber cladding on
internal walls creates a homely
warmth.
Providing good contemporary
family living accommodation
is one way farm owners
can attract good farm managers
and their families in an increasingly
competitive market.
Future Cambridge
Being local, PAUA’s founding
director Antanas Procuta
identifies plenty of scope for
development yet in central
Cambridge.
He says this coincides with
the need for a lot of buildings to
be seismically strengthened or
otherwise rebuilt, which offers
the potential for rebuilding to
three or four-storeys, which
would allow for increased residential
density within the centre
of town.
Antanas believes it is
important to get more people
living closer to the centre of
Cambridge, because the density
will allow shops and businesses
to remain vital, and it
can minimise vehicle use for
getting to town, following the
European model of walkable
urban centres.
The PAUA Architects’ team
is currently working with several
Cambridge clients on projects
that will continue the legacy
of quality and great design
in the town.
Keep an eye out for a new
townhouse on Hamilton Road,
the Cambridge Museum,
and there’s even a potential
co-housing project brewing.
Remodeling and restoration of a category two Heritage NZ listed house