The Christchurch Art Gallery features a spectacular flowing glass and metal façade that evokes the sinuous form of the koru and Christchurch’s River Avon. The building houses nine exhibition areas, a reference library, an auditorium, education workrooms, a restaurant, shops and an extensive area for collection storage.
The curtain wall for the art gallery was custom designed using a transom extrusion that was developed specifically for the project. There are no mullion frames with transoms being supported laterally via struts pin jointed to an inclined steel column. Vertical support is provided by a cable suspension system. Vertical joints between the glass panels are silicone butt jointed and the glass wall is formed by a series of intersecting conical shaped structures.
