Highwic, in Epsom, Auckland is one of New Zealand's finest timber gothic revival houses, which has become Auckland's best-known historic house museum. Salmond Reed Architects led a full internal and external restoration, safeguarding its future, and ensuring that the restored house provides an authentic impression, transporting visitors back in time and adding immeasurable to the authenticity of their museum experience.
This building, designed in 1929 by Roy Lippincott, is the University of Auckland’s flagship building and its heritage character was central to Salmond Reed Architects’ involvement in the project. Heritage considerations, such as reversibility – the ability to readily remove any new fit-out elements in the future without compromising the original heritage fabric – were central to the design approach.
The brief called for maximum acoustic privacy between individual offices and for the provision of a comfortable working environment using natural and mechanical ventilation. It was also important to maintain transparency and continuity at the interface between the atrium and the south wing at both levels, using predominantly transparent partitions and to maintain the transfer of light from the main stairwell into the atrium.
