Ray of sunshine

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South Seas colours influenced the interior of the historic, restored Sargood Centre in Dunedin, which was once an art gallery and is now a sports education facility.

Sunny colours for a cold climate – it's a model that works every time, and the remodelled Sargood Centre in Dunedin is no exception.

The heritage-listed building, which was the original art gallery for the 1925-26 NZ South Seas Exhibition and later the Dunedin Public Art Gallery, has undergone an extensive makeover to become a modern sports education facility for the Otago Polytechnic School of Sport and Adventure.

The project, designed by architect Ian Butcher, included extensive renovations to adapt and earthquake-proof the closed, gloomy compound of gallery buildings.

Butcher specified an interior inspired by a South Seas sunrise, sunset colours and clear blues and greens. The administration offices feature Resene Ayers Rock, a sunset orange, Resene Limerick, an Irish green, Resene Free Spirit, a deep blue green and Resene True Blue, a violet blue. These lively colours are in the former small galleries that at one time would have displayed old masters.

Elsewhere Resene Half Spanish White walls and ceilings, coupled with restored rimu floorboards and charcoal upholstery, retain the dignified feel of a heritage gallery. Large teaching spaces feature Resene Cocktail, a blackberry grape shade, while the gym is painted in Resene X Factor, a blue red.

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