Style: February 07, 2020

STYLE | architecture 51
RSA secretary Garry House
and architect Michael
O’Sullivan shared more than
a few laughs on the project.
The stunning ocular
window where
members can watch
bowls and the sunset.
Image: Charlie Rose Creative
Image: Bull O’Sullivan Architecture
So, he headed out to Lyttelton to recruit Michael in person.
He found Michael welding up a drawing board at his new,
soon-to-be award-winning, architecture studio. Michael
remembers the day well.
“In walked this guy that was on fire, fizzing with energy.
I didn’t know anyone in Canterbury and in walks this guy,
this magic man. He was the first guy to walk in the door
and go, ‘Would you like to draw up something for us?’ And
I was almost in tears with satisfaction,” he says.
The games room wasn’t Michael’s typical sort of project.
In spite of the payout, there wasn’t a lot of money to
throw around.
“They had bugger all. We basically scrimped and extorted
people we knew to help get the project across the line.
“Most of these guys [at the club] are retired and rely on
the pension to buy their beer. You know? That’s the reality.
But I was really taken by these guys.”
So, Michael set to work. He wanted to design something
worthy of those he had met.
“It was basically building a cave for these men and
women to go into and play billiards. Gone are the days
of the smoke-filled rooms of Boston, Lower Manhattan
and Detroit where billiards was where you concurrently
organised some illegal activity and played billiards. But that’s
not to say you can’t compress a space and make it intimate
without the smoke and the maniacal nonsense.”
To save more money, he admits he did things most
architects wouldn’t do.
“We project managed it. It is a really dangerous thing to
do as an architect because you take on a lot of liability. But
it was the only way they could’ve afforded to do it. We
were begging and asking for favours from everyone.”
Michael also built the suspended steel frame for the lights
above the billiards table. Had they bought it, he estimates it
would have cost $18,000. It cost Michael roughly $300. He
also built the stunning ocular window.
“Most conservative people would go, ‘Architects can’t
possibly make lights, we’ll buy them instead.’ But, of course
you can,” he says.
And slowly, as the cave’s construction continued,
camaraderie built up between those involved in the
project.
“They are bloody hilarious,” Michael says of the
members.
Down the end of a dead-end street in New Brighton, the
combined club sits. The seagulls break the silence on what
is a peaceful street. Cracked footpaths and tired car parks
line the way to the club’s front gate, past humble homes
where people give a friendly wave while easing their backs
from work in the garden. In polite words, signs on the