Sad news today that the Matterhorn is to close. A Wellington institution, a Cuba St staple, a 60s icon beyond compare. In many other worlds, the Matterhorn would be a sacrosanct thing, a protected and listed function, and yet here, at the word of an engineer, it is to be largely destroyed. Sad indeed. But […]
There’s something ever appealing about Walt Disney’s mouse creation that transcends the years – but even I thought I had double vision at this sight – somewhere in a german back street from memory. But this got me thinking – not really in any particular urban or architectural way, but just generally thinking about Mickey […]
While my efforts have been wilting lately, thankfully, other blogs are springing up to take the place of this one. First up is Congestion Free Wellington, which is, as it says on their blog, a “congestion-free Wellington coalition made up of Cycle Aware Wellington, FIT: Fair Intelligent Transport, Living Streets Aotearoa, OraTaiao: The NZ Climate […]
A lovely song with a lovely architectural video – Teeks. What a voice !
The report of the Mayor’s Housing Taskforce is out and you can download it to read at your leisure. Spear-headed by Mayor Justin Lester and Deputy Mayor Paul Eagle, the report has been prepared by a group of people, Members of the Housing Taskforce, that reads like this: Deputy Mayor Paul Eagle, Chair Stephanie McIntyre, […]
In the world’s slowest playing and longest lasting saga, what could be the final chapter has been announced. A new building – the last new building? – for the Wellington waterfront. The Dominion Post of course rushes straight to get an opinion from the bunch of wild rebels that were probably teenagers when this controversy […]
Is there anything more scary than the sight of a tall building on fire? Grenfell Tower in West London was in flames all Wednesday, burning through the night like a giant torch – this is a major, major incident. Apart from the loss of life (at the moment only reporting 6 dead, but surely set […]
The announcement that the Council (WCC) is looking at getting developers to take city office blocks and convert them to housing is a big game-changer. It is a sign of an increasingly heated property market and an increasingly frustrated Council, seeing as the Special Housing Areas set up by the Government have not really had […]
So much exciting architectural news on at the moment I hardly know where to start, including the surprise decision to award consent for a hotel/apartment building down by the Bus Interchange (pretty silly decision seeing as the last building went to court), signs of movement on the Christchurch Cathedral rebuild front (but decisions still being […]