The Rose Garden Apartments, situated in Auckland’s fast-growing Albany area, was the biggest apartment complex in the country when first announced in 2015. It was designed by Context Architects Ltd., with windows and door systems provided by Altus Window Systems Fabricator; Vistalite North Harbour.

"This was, and still is, a big project," says Mike from Vistalite.

As construction continues, the Rose Garden has become a flagship of Auckland’s Unitary Plan. It is a prime example of comfortable high-density living, where all of life’s necessities are within a stone’s throw of residents’ front doors.

The brief

The Rose Garden comprises 800 apartments and is being built on a two-hectare site adjacent to Westfield Albany and QBE Stadium. The first stage alone contains 200 units, with an underground carpark beneath - to cut down on land use (that can instead be replaced with greenery). There are also ground-floor commercial spaces, constructed as a part of phase one.

While this might seem like a big task for everyone involved, the prospect of glazing this building was particularly formidable. Providing each resident with a stunning view of the local lake, green spaces and bush areas was a key feature of the design, making high-quality windows and doors paramount to the Rose Garden’s success. However, due to the nature of local conditions - exposed geographical location and the building’s placement - wind load calculations were to be challenging.

Vistalite North Harbour was brought in early on in the process, and with Context Architects, worked together closely on the challenges presented by such a large-scale build, determining alternative solutions that balanced vision with practicality. For starters, three separate Altus Window Systems were utilised throughout the design. These included:

• Atlantic48™ Euroslider™ Doors: Specially suited for designer architecture, where neither views nor window strength can be compromised. It features across the apartments’ sliding doors.
• Pacific Architectural: This was used for the windows - it has a square, flat-faced frame with a range of transom and mullion options to cope with higher wind loads.
• Baltic Shopfront 106: This system was used for the Rose Garden’s commercial frontages. It exceeds NZ compliance requirements and its doors can be made fully watertight.
  
  As mentioned, the wind requirements of this project were a particular challenge. To counteract these concerns, Vistalite recommended that high windows use steel posts for added strength.

This project is a clear example of how early consultation with the right people can turn a potential future risk into a present-day solution. By consulting right from the word go, Vistalite North Harbour and Context Architects could pinpoint challenge areas and plan for them before they were ever a problem.

Location - Albany, Auckland
Architect/ Designer - Context Architects Ltd
Industry Sector - Residential and Commercial
Systems - Pacific Architectural, Atlantic48™, Baltic Shopfront 106
Fabricator - Vistalite North Harbour
Products - Euroslider™ doors, Commercial Pivot doors