Semple House Apartments

These leading-edge apartments on Oriental Parade in Wellington were completed on time early in 2005. The five-storey apartments have a curved frontage and cut back into the hillside in a wedge shape. Major excavations, deep down and back into the hill, were the first stage in construction.

A feature of the building, which has seven units, is the very high quality of design, materials, workmanship and construction techniques. Fred Gibson, the American architect, was based in San Francisco throughout the project. He developed designs overnight (New Zealand time) and sent them through so that work could proceed smoothly the next day.

This was one of the communication and management challenges that were overcome by using new technologies to bridge the distance and time differences, and by building a close working relationship with all key parties.