Nelson School of Music

Nelson School of Music Nothing is new for long. Things change, so too does the fit between buildings and their communities. The Nelson School of Music, designed by Frederick de Jersey Clere as a teaching auditorium in 1895, may be one of the most protected buildings in New Zealand, but it has been refinished many times. World-class string acoustics have endured through generations of change; gas lamps, electricity, toilets… even the removal of its baubles. By the time the 2010 and 2011 Christchurch Earthquakes render the building unusable this once grand building has received buttresses, neighbours and a new entry that goes out of its way to cover up the auditorium. No longer is it a grand four sided building in the community. It has lost its fit. This new refinishing does something different; it looks to what is important. The auditorium is seismically strengthened but also re-acknowledged and fitted back to its community with the practice, recording, stage and audience spaces that a modern music school and performance venue requires. Further generations may now again look to the auditorium for inspiration before learning in the same greenrooms, practice and stage spaces as their heroes. It does this under a waterfall veranda roof that opens high to the auditorium and low to its residential neighbours. But the new is not important. The corners, interior and grandeur are given back to the auditorium with the highest ICOMOS heritage principals. Other finishes are secondary and placed within an open-space framework to capture light from the original brick façade and look to the auditorium and its community for what is important.