The site is on the historic apron and wharf area on the north east corner of Hobsonville Point, an area being redeveloped as Catalina Bay.
Existing buildings, originally constructed as seaplane hangars and workshops on date from 1930.
The seaplane landing and support base were used for military operations originally then shared with Tasman Empire Airways Ltd (TEAL), until the final seaplane flight in April 1967. Recently, as part of the wider redevelopment of Hobsonville Point, the defence force moved off site leaving the hangars and workshop buildings empty.
A comprehensive redevelopment plan is underway at Catalina Bay and one of the first buildings to be completed and reoccupied is the Catalina Workshops.
Originally a hangar and workshop for Catalina flying boats, the building is defined by its diagonally braced hangar doors and the large double height interior entry volume formed in raw concrete and riveted steel roof trusses above. The building contains office uses with a single tenant occupying the southern half.
An important conceptual element and key challenge in the re-occupation of the building was retaining the original steel framed diagonally braced hangar door frames, removing their asbestos cladding and applying a new glazed façade over. The original sideways rolling frames were cleaned and repaired before being fixed in place.
Photographer Samuel Hartnett
