Bamboo Garden

Bamboo Garden rises from the ashes

After a fire in the popular Bamboo Garden Restaurant in Maxwell Road, Blenheim rendered it a write off, the owners Karoru and Ikuko Maeshingo approached the team at DesignHQ to design their new restaurant and takeaway.   The previous building was an historic structure with a long history in Blenheim, and the Bamboo Garden Restaurant had occupied the building for the past 20 years.

While the owners had many requests from their patrons to incorporate some of the "features" of the previous building, we convinced them of the need to make a clean start on this prominant site on the fringes of the Blenheim CBD and to build an asian inspired building.

Our solution was a post and beam styled building, drawing reference to the traditional Samurai houses which Tony Fitzpatrick enjoyed while living in Japan many years previously.   From the 300mm square posts and beams, to the plaster finished exterior, to the glass block windows and the tracery to the interior, this building draws many references from Asian architecture without trying to replicate it.   The result is a building which is now a landmark in Blenheim, with a great ambience.

Project Team:

Principal Designer:        Tony Fitzpatrick
Design Assistant:            Marco Romagnoli
Interior Designer:           Avril Heard-Woolcombe
Landscape Design:        Christo Saggers (Northridge Landscape Design)
Engineers:                       Powell Fenwick Consultants Ltd
Contractors:                    Thompson & Devanny Construction