Hynds Group Head Quarters

The architects were engaged to renovate a building purpose built for Nutrimetics in the 1970s and transform it into the new headquarters for HYNDS Group. Grown from a back yard business into a nationwide company employing over 670 people, HYNDS Group is a successful piping company.

The intention was to rejuvenate this Office Warehouse Building, free it of the trappings of its former life, develop Hynds' identity as a progressive “no-nonsense” company, relate to the surrounding parkland, allow for future flexibility and unite the Hynds Group Headquarters from 4 separately leased spaces to one central location.

Although it is in the heart of industrial East Tamaki the site is surrounded by trees and water. The Building is set at the end of an avenue on a peninsula of the upper Tamaki River. The building’s exterior structure has remained largely intact, but sunscreens with circular perforations various sizes now play off the 70’s exterior arches. This offers the first hint of a theme that runs throughout the interior of the building. At the Entry an existing helical stair is reinforced with a concrete half pipe leaving visitors with no misconceptions as to the nature of the business.

An atrium creates a corridor through the building between the office and warehouse. This corridor works as a “conduit” to the surrounding landscape. It connects the communal courtyards, provides generous office daylight and centres the Staff Café & Board room within this space. The Atrium well is clad in rough sawn cedar ply panels. The ply panels, planting, lighting and windows set up a rhythm strengthening the connection this “conduit” makes to the surrounding park land.

The ceilings are lined with staggered 1200 x 2400 clear finished pine plywood sheets running under the existing steel purlins and in some instances the pine ply sheets continue down full height-division walls. The pipe theme is continued with 1/2 circle window cut outs and curved pine plywood sills.

Natural materials such as stained rough sawn ply enabled the materials to be robustly detailed, resonating with the HYNDS Group philosophy of honest, straight forward service and solutions. A no nonsense philosophy of “what you see is what you get”.