3.33 NZCDC Offices, Pukekohe 1953

Job No 38

Designed between April and September 1953, the NZCDC office in Pukekohe has an introspective feel and originally featured a striking light well that provided a buffer from the road. The building is primarily of concrete construction, with a decorative brick infill panel that provided a dramatic backdrop for the company's signage. Above the entrance, additional light was let into the front offices by large panels of glass bricks. In general, however, the building's windows are high off the ground and the overall effect is to create an enclave which does not fully participate in the space or activities that surround it.

The solid walls and high windows were an asset for the building's second life as the Pukekohe public library, but the structure has since been repurposed again and now houses social service agencies. Much of the ground floor wall area has since been glazed for retail activity and the light well has been roofed over to increase the amount of useable floor area.

The 1950s and 1960s were a time of rapid change for the dairy industry. Progressive consolidation of cooperatives and the shift to tanker collection meant many factories had to be altered or abandoned, while the entry of Britain into the EEC led the Dairy Board to encourage rapid diversification of products and an enhanced emphasis on marketing that forced the NZ Co-operative Dairy Company to concentrate its office activities in Hamilton and Auckland.

The rectangular plan, flat profile, ribbon windows and glass bricks of this structure anticipate the later laboratory buildings that King designed for the Meat Research Institute and Wool Research Organisation. However, this early design lacks the mature coherence of the laboratories, and the front balconies, pillars and glass bricks combine to create an art deco effect which is echoed by the angular planes of the light well and the stepped-back second storey. Nevertheless, in the context of NZCDC buildings of that time, it remains a strikingly modern building.