The most prominent sign on Ashburton’s new $62 million library and civic centre will not be the name of the building itself – Te Whare Whakatere. It will instead be the Ashburton District Council’s name and crest.
Placement of the Te Whare Whakatere name is less obvious, above the building’s two public entranceways.
Finishing touches are being applied to Te Whare Whakatere, due to open January 22.
The words Ashburton District Council in capitals, and the district council’s crest, are to be mounted on the building’s feature frontage, an A-shaped perforated mesh shroud facing Baring Square. The crest will be 1.2m by 1m.
The main entranceway of the building is to the left of this feature frontage. There is another entranceway on Havelock St. Above these two entranceways is where the building’s name sits. It reads Te Whare Whakatere in bold capital letters, followed by Ashburton Library & Civic Centre in capital letters.
Details of the building’s design, including signage wording and placement, was the brief of the district council’s project control group, made up mostly of councillors and district council staff. The district council adopted the recommendation for these details from the group.
Group chair, and district council chief executive, Hamish Riach said the group had taken into account the building’s uses and the fact it was a district council facility when deciding on placement of signs.
‘‘We just tried to reflect the fact it’s a library, a civic centre, and the district council is there, all those things are reflected,’’ Riach said.
Ashburton te reo Māori teacher Kate White said she was happy with the placement of the building’s signage, but at first thought it was ‘‘a shame’’ the words Te Whare Whakatere were not more prominent.
‘‘When I first saw it, I thought it would be nice to have Te Whare Whakatere (on the feature frontage). But then I thought ‘It’s okay, it is Ashburton District Council, and that’s what people will recognise.’ And I like how they have done the entrance, I like that it (Te Whare Whakatere name) appears first, then Ashburton Library & Civic Centre,’’ White said.
