Ronald McDonald House

Ronald McDonald House is an independent Charitable Trust providing a home away from home environment for families with seriously ill children needing to travel to Wellington Hospital for specialist medical treatment. Families live in the house for as long as their child needs to be treated, for some families it may be one night, for others it may be many months. The entire length of the stay is free.

Due to increasing needs including the redevelopment of Wellington Hospital, this new facility is proposed to replace the current house which was originally designed to accommodate 10 families. The proposed new house will accommodate 34 families in a variety of apartment, and room accommodation, together with shared communal living facilities.

Situated on the western side of Riddiford Street, to the immediate north of the existing Ronald McDonald House, and directly opposite the Wellington Hospital, the objective was to create a contemporary and recognisable building, which acknowledges and complements its urban context, whilst creating a welcoming retreat for its occupants.

The overall design of the building is broken down into a series of vertical bays, this acknowledges the predominant pattern of building width in the Newtown area, and gives a domestic scale to this sizeable development. The design has been carefully considered to ensure that all adjacent bays are distinctive, to articulate the expression of a group of individual buildings, whilst maintaining a design language that unifies the building as a whole. Behind the street frontage, the rear of the house wraps around to form a private enclosed courtyard area for the families to retreat to. The result is an exciting contemporary building reflecting the nature of its purpose, and providing a positive addition to the city.

Ronald McDonald House officially launched their fund raising campaign on the 14th of February 2008. To find out more about the campaign or contributing a donation, please visit the following website.

http://www.givealotoflove.org.nz/

Date of completion: 2009