The building required extensive structural upgrading to meet earthquake protection standards. Early technology base isolation system was designed by structural engineers. This involved jacking the entire building up on steel gantries, cutting the original brick foundations away, installing driven piles with rubber dampening pads
then lowering the building off the jacks to the new earthquake protecting foundation. The building was then converted to a state of the art Museum and tourist attraction.
The interior was stripped back to its original raw form, and a section of the three floors cut away to provide vertical access and orientation. The integrity of the original
interior and storage bay grid has been maintained with interpretive spaces opening from a central circulation space. Each floor has a different theme and style –
Introduction to Wellington, Maritime History and Wellington in 1900. A number of high impact audio visual and special effects presentations including a three storey high, vertically proportioned film projected onto a wall of the stair well feature in the high impact visitor experience
ProjectMuseum of WellingtonClientWellington Museums Trust / City CouncilLocationQueens Wharf Wellington, New ZealandDateTBCValue$9.1 M Structural, $5.2M Fit Out
