Having only just finished an upgrade of the Westpac Stadium last year, in time for the wugby world cup, it seems odd to me that the Stadium Trust are already talking about their next major upgrade – a complete refurbishment of the stadium inside and out – as shown in the DomPost today.
In typical Dompost manner, all mention of the architects and engineers responsible for the sketches are omitted – the drawings seem to have come out of thin air, according to the Stuff, and yet we here at the Fish would like to know. Do you know who the architects or concept designers are on this project? The Westpac Stadium Trust aren’t telling, yet, as there is no mention on their website.
Populous/W&M?
http://wellington.scoop.co.nz/?p=46017
aaah, thank you. Populous it is. What is curious however, is that this morning there were more drawings, and i think some options – by 10am they were gone, and we’re left with just this external rendering. Definitely not a Stantiall drawing – so its not a local then !
a large number of the comments on the Stuff website are harping on and on about the need for a roof. One person, describing himself as “sad sack” even complains about the lack of a pedestrian link from Thorndon across to the stadium concourse. My response to the Stuff is:
“Maximus #37 11:07 am Jun 29 2012
@Fletcher C – absolutely correct. Not only is it physically impossible to connect a roof on without a complete demolish and rebuild, but the reason it has no roof is because the Thorndon Residents and Ratepayers kicked up a huge fuss over their potential loss of view, so it has a flat top that can never go higher. They also stopped the possibility of @sad sack’s walking link to the stadium. Don’t blame the Council for these mistakes – blame the snooty people of Thorndon.”
We could pinch dunedin’s roofed stadium, they can’t afford to keep theirs. Plus we need a roof more than they do, its colder there, but we have heaps more wind and rain.
Dunedin roof = square. Wellington stadium = round.
Not going to fit.
End of story.
I hope the exterior skin will be lit up in pretty colors, if it’s covered in that bubble wrap of course.
Nicer renders found at http://westpacstadium.co.nz/assets/Documents/Staying-on-top-of-our-game.pdf
Callum, that’s perfect. Yes – that is the more interesting render that Stuff had up briefly on the first day, and then must have been asked to take down by the people at the Stadium. Time for it to be reposted I say ! Extra pictures now included above…
Meanwhile, from that same report, here is what the Stadium Trust say about the issue of the Roof:
“The particular challenges are:
• The Stadium is built of light weight concrete and cannot support
any additional structures, therefore either additional foundation
work would have to be done, or a separate structure built to
support a roof
• There is a height restriction in the Thorndon area. The Stadium
has a resource consent that permits us to build to only 26
metres. There would be many resource consent issues and
potential problems with the neighbours in building a structure
covering the Stadium
• The existing light towers need to be at the current height
mainly due to cricket requirements
• Any roof would need to be above the light towers
• Any roof construction needs to provide airflow within the
Stadium so grass can grow
• It is likely that there would be serious wind loadings on a roof
that would create major additional costs to resolve
Some high level estimates for costs, from our consultants, have
varied between $60 and $80 million for construction of the roof.
This is beyond the financial resources of the Wellington Regional
Stadium Trust and the local councils would need to assist in the
funding of such a project.
Nothing in the Master Plan prevents the addition of a roof at some
time in the future.
It is the opinion of the Trust that at a cost of $60 –$80 million there
would need to be a debate on whether that money would be better
spent on funding a purpose built indoor arena. A covered Stadium
would not attract the smaller 10,000 –12,000 seated concerts,
which are the majority of concerts that are currently touring and
bypassing Wellington.”
Will the magnificent MÄori design features above the entrance to the stadium now be retained? For me they are truly wonderful and it would be a real shame if they were lost.
George, that’s something that another of our readers has raised – in the next post: http://eyeofthefish.org/caketin-glassy-or-spikey/
It looks like it is not to be retained, but this is all early days yet.