Not sure if you realise this yet, but the proverbial cat has just been thrown amongst the proverbial pigeons. Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga (what used to be called the Historic Places Trust) has just announced three new grade 1 heritage listings in Wellington: Trades Hall, Wellington Central Library, and a combined Gordon Wilson and McLean flats as well. Trades Hall was the site of NZ’s…
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Suddenly out of nowhere, a storm brews up. Media gets hold of a story, blows something up into a bigger storm than it deserves, and then away it goes. Social media gets hold of it and then you’re dogmeat – you get ripped apart in the court of social opinion. Pardon me for not getting as excited as some people are, but I just don’t think…
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And Spanked is putting it mildly. The report on their progress so far makes for miserable reading. You can read them here. The Executive Summary doesn’t hold back: “LGWM in its current state is at risk of failing to deliver an integrated, cohesive, prioritised and outcomes-driven package of investments.” and then it goes on further: “a process-driven rather than outcomes-driven focus; a project-led (i.e. bottom up)…
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No doubt there are more important things to write about today – Trump’s impeachment trial is on at the moment, the housing crisis continues to be a crisis, the pandemic continues to rage even while the vaccine starts to be rolled out – and New Zealand argues about whether men should have to wear a tie in Parliament. The big things – the important things. The…
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Today, a guest post from Art Vandelay, with a potential solution for the route of a Light Rail system through Wellington. Art Vandelay states: “With regards to the columns and structure there seems to be decent spans and I’m sure some clever engineering could make it work. People will say it’s too expensive but I think we have a bad habit in this country of doing things…
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While the news of the hour is that architect Chris Moller has left Grand Designs NZ (oh no!), and that they have not got a replacement yet (actually, they do, but I’m not going to tell you who), the REAL big issue – the news of the next decade or two or three or five – is that NZ is going to start to get serious…
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BNZ Harbour Quays bites the dust. You may not have noticed the gradual reduction in size over the past few months, but the former BNZ headquarters down on the waterfront Quay has been steadily chewed up over the last wee while, without any celebration or fuss. Remember when we imported a giant set of Christchurch munchers to eat some buildings, back in – ooooh, about 2011…
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Like many of you, I have been watching events unfold in the USA with interest. Yes, I know that Maximus and Leviathan may be rolling over in their watery graves for me even approaching such a topic – after all, this is a blog dedicated to architecture, in Wellington, rather than political events in Washington. But there is a strong link, which I will get to…
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Phew – thank goodness that 2020 is over. It’s been a horror show for most of the world and never seemed to want to finish, but at last, like T****’s presidency, it’s at an end. Things can surely, only get better from here on in. What is the future going to hold for Wellington? What is the future for Eye of the Fish? How can the…
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A missive has arrived from Wellington City Council, outlining that they have a plan for some changes around Garrett St (just off Cuba St) and Swan Lane (opposite Garrett St). In the interests of speediness, as they have a very short period of consultation, I’m going to post it here. There is actually screeds of paperwork, with parking places spelt out in GPS coordinates (Ha! try…