It’s hard to imagine the joy I felt this morning catching the bus to work and finally seeing someone else actually using a Snapper Card. I had been quietly trying to convince myself that the seemingly slow uptake of this local version of London’s Oyster card was due to unspent currency of 10-ride bus tickets – but alas there always seemed to be too much hard…
Fish
1,099 Articles
Maximus
1 Min Read
I’ve just found out that Wellington Civic Trust is once again holding its Awards this year, and nominations are open once more: click here. Last held in 2005, perhaps there hasn’t been enough exciting public work for the Trust to have had Awards for the last couple of years – however, surely there are enough to give awards by now. Last time, there was a simple…
Maximus
2 Min Read
There are still many good signs of a healthy construction industry in Wellington, with a number of apartment projects underway. Two of these under construction at present are interesting as they show such different methods of construction. One of them, the Piermont apartments, by Stratum Management (Architecture +), took a while to get out of the ground due to basements almost below the water level, and…
Maximus
1 Min Read
Following fast on the footsteps of the previous post on Courtenay Park, which some are labeling as ‘grim’, I’d like to put forward another contender for the title of ‘grim urban park’: yes, that of the SLOAP that is the ‘park’ of the Bypass. I’m not sure that Transit, the designers of mighty roading projects, have really got the hang of designing places for people yet….
Maximus
1 Min Read
So National has pledged to reform the RMA within its first 100 days of office, should it get elected. Some people are getting very excited about that. ACT seems to think this may mean less restrictions on suburban land for housing, and let ‘good’ projects start and finish earlier. National seems to think that key ‘infrastructure’ projects will get a green light with less soul-searching. Labour…
Maximus
1 Min Read
I’ve just spotted this blank wall being constructed beside the main route into the city from the airport. Facing north, providing a beautiful backdrop for shadow play of pohutukawa, as well as a future venue for no doubt countless mindless scribblings, is a blank wall. Courtesy of the ArcHaus architectural team. Is this really what we want to be seen from the main road? Is…
Maximus
2 Min Read
The DomPost reported recently that Wellington Construction Ltd has bit the dust, owing various creditors money as it dissolved into a pile of construction rubble. We’re saddened by that, but its not completely unexpected: you run with wolves, you might just get bitten: although in this case its not really clear who is doing the biting. The saviour of Wellington football club Phoenix, our favourite spiky-haired developer Terry Serepisos has been hit…
Maximus
2 Min Read
In a break away from discussing the whys and wherefores of a proposed small road to the north of Wellington, lets return for a moment to the heart of the city to present and discuss a building proposal by The Wellington Company. The building, designed by local architects Architecture +, is proposed as the new home for Telecom in Wellington, as reported by NBR and the…
Maximus
3 Min Read
Following on from our recent post dissing the likelihood of the “Transmission Gully” project ever getting off the ground, Transit made a big splash with a 4 page advert in the local rag (sorry DomPost, but your quality has been on a solid downwards trajectory lately and you no longer deserve the epithet of national newspaper), setting out improvements: a “new route” (which seems to be…