On a lovely summer day like today, the last thing you want to be doing is sitting inside – but there is one conversation going on today that we should be talking about – The Rock. Unveiled to the Media yesterday (no, we weren’t invited) and to be opened by the Key Minister today, there is going to be a Public Open Day soon too – maybe this weekend? After that of course, you’ll need to be flying internationally to see the sights inside. Given our limited exposure to international flights at our tiny airport, does this mean that the Rock is effectively a waiting room for Rarotonga and Melbourne? I feel the need for a shopping trip to Melbourne soon…

However, the Rock seems to be getting some remarkably good press. Everyone I’ve spoken to that has been there has said it is great inside, and are slowly getting a measure of respect for the outside as well. Even the normally harsh critics of public architecture at the Arch Centre like it. We’ve all heard the rude names for it, and it will be interesting to see which names may stick long term, and how long people take to like it. Will it be in the running for an NZIA award this year, or next year, or will it be shunned by its modernist peers who like everything rectangular? Will it soon settles down into the background as just another bit of Wellington, or will it end up as an Icon on a tea towel in the way that the Opera House defines Sydney?

By all accounts, it is somewhere that you need to see to really understand – so I’m not going to offer comment today. But if you have seen, and want to note your feelings here, please, be our guest:

Fish