A History of the Richardson Building

Built in 1979 the Richardson building stands tall in the heart of Otago University. The building was designed by prominent New Zealand architect, Ted McCoy who has also worked several other buildings around Dunedin including Archway lecture theatre, New World Supermarket and even worked on St Pauls Cathedral among many others.
The height of the building is to maximise the use of the site as it is very hard and expensive to acquire land in the area. The angular lines covering the building are intended to direct the rain and prevent damage. Externally the building is totally concrete which unfortunately, in later years, got 'concrete cancer' leading to falling concrete. The 'concrete cancer' came at a large cost to the university taking four years to fix, yet at the same time some students made the most of the situation and even used it as an excuse to delay assignments. ("I got concrete in my eye.")
The building is named after Sir John Larkin Cheese Richardson who was an early vice chancellor of the University. Sir Richardson devoted his money to found the "Richardson Scholarship" made available to students attending Otago University. But the building was not always called 'The Richardson', when it was built in 1979, it was named the 'Hocken' building and housed a large historical collection of archives and photographs, which has since moved to Anzac Avenue to alleviate pressure on space.
Today the Richardson Building houses several departments as well as computer labs, lecture rooms and the Law library. It is an essential part of the University and many problems would arise without it.