With the only topic trending right now being the anointing by the masses of Mr Trumplestiltskin to the position of President-Elect, it seems churlish to talk about matters such as Urban Design or Wellington architectural experimentation. There’s little connecting the two – except for the architectural specifications for a wall between Mexico and the US of 3,145 km…. runs through four US states (Texas, New Mexico,…
Leviathan
331 Articles
Levi has recently taken on some blogging duties following the disappearance of Maximus. Reluctantly.
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Leviathan
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What’s happening Wellington? From being a dead city that no one knows what to do with (thanks honky johnkey), Wellington now seems to be the place-de-jour for hotels. Castles has got one going opposite Davy Jones (very clever placement there Alex!), there is a proposal for one on the site next to the Michael Fowler Centre (are you not forgetting the giant underground tank for holding…
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Leviathan
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News today that the Wellington suburb of Newlands is to get a new “executive subdivision” called the Lookout, sitting up on top of the hill overlooking the harbour. There are 48 lots, most fairly standard sort of 390m2 to 590m2 size (roughly a tenth of an acre to a sixth of an acre), with some larger one (probably mostly unusable hillside) up to 1370m2 (still just…
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Leviathan
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I’ve been reading The Big Smoke recently, historian Ben Schrader‘s epic tome on the history of the urban scene in New Zealand – at least from 1840 till 1920. Hopefully, Schrader will now work on a sequel, from 1921 to 2021. Not that far away! It is an excellent book, well worth the purchase price, and apart from one chapter which got a little too graphical…
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I was looking back at a box of old books the other day, when I came across my collection of Tintin and Asterix books. Graphic novels, if you were to ask me now, but just comic books back then. A valuable learning aid for puns (either subtle or brutal) and in my case, French, as our school library only held copies of Asterix in the original…
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Sadly, very sadly, Rewi Thompson has passed away. An architect, a mentor, a professor at Auckland University, Rewi was of Ngati Porou and Ngati Raukawa lineage, but was also just an incredibly nice, friendly guy. I don’t think I ever heard him say a bad word about anyone. Having met him a few times, I was always impressed at the quiet way he conducted himself, and…
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A week is a long time in politics. Celia is gone, Justin is in, Colin Craig is ancient history, and Goff’s off to head up the supercity. The last WCC crop of Councillors was, let’s be honest, a bag full of fruitcakes, with the frankly barmy Helene Ritchie, the reptilian repellent Mark Peck who, frankly, did nothing for the entire 3 years except pull a pay…
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Following on from Transportblog’s farewell to their outgoing Mayor Len Brown, it seems only appropriate that the Eye of the Fish take a similar lead and post a farewell to Celia Wade-Brown, who has also exiled herself to the ether. Unlike Auckland, where it seems almost certain that they know who they will get next as Mayor (soto voce goff goff), here in the capital we…
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Dull headline but vitally important topic, that is getting next to no media attention. What do you know about people standing for the Wellington Regional Council, and even more importantly: what do you know about the people standing for the Capiti and Coast District Health Board? I confess, in the words of the immortal Corporal Schulz: I know Nothing ! The Mayoral candidates for Wellington are…
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While you’ve been sleeping, London has been burning down. Yes, to commemorate the 350th anniversary of the Great Fire of London, on 4th September 1666, the City of London have been doing a whole series of events around the Great Fire, and on their Sunday night – our Monday morning – they’re going to burn it all down again. Well, not quite – instead, an arts…