Today Wellington Airport unveiled the design for “The Rock” — an addition to the international terminal. However this is not just a simple expansion/addition, this is to be “New Zealand’s newest icon“. The $39 million project promises an array of improvements to the airport experience, having doubled the traffic capacity of the international terminal and added many new facilities. But the pragmatics of the user experience…
Fish
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Maximus
4 Min Read
Architecture + (plus what, one may ask, to complete the equation), have been one of the busiest architects in the city of late, barring Athfields and Archaus of course. They have recently unveiled the Republic 2 apartments, close on the tail of the Republic (1), which itself followed quickly behind the Monument, which followed the Piermont, and that followed the Portal. Someone’s been spending long hours…
Philip
4 Min Read
Last night was of course, Stop Transit’s Tunnels, a public meeting to inform the public about Transit’s plans, better alternatives and how to influence the process of the Ngauranga to Airport Transport Strategy. Note: Sorry, its been a busy night, and its 3am….this post will be edited into a more complete writeup with some analysis and supporting material when I get the chance. Check back soon,…
Philip
1 Min Read
Just a few days after a clean sweep at Kumotomo, the Athfield-designed proposal for the Overseas Terminal has suffered a setback when an officer’s report recommended that the project be declined. For those unfamiliar with the project, the development would create a retail ground level, with 4 upper floors housing 70 luxury apartments. A parking level would also be created on the underside of the wharf,…
Philip
1 Min Read
“I’ve attempted to show the figure evoking a desire to be alone with his thoughts…Naked and vulnerable, his physicality reflects the psychological state that each of us have experienced at some time in our lives. Retaining a classical sense of strength and control he leans almost precariously into the wind over the waters edge. It captures that moment before letting go, both physically and emotionally.” For…
Maximus
5 Min Read
In my last post, I expressed concerns with the light-rail proposal as detailed in the Ngauranga-to-Airport (N2A) strategic study. Implicit in my statement at the end of the post that “I have a hard time getting behind this light rail proposal at this point in time” is the fact that a different time or a different proposal could indeed change my mind. As for better proposals…
Philip
1 Min Read
In the wake of the Athfield waterfront win, a new seed is set to sprout up in the inner city. Taking root in the Willis New World Metro, this new tower is the latest in a string of green buildings that have been proposed or built. Aiming to achieve a five star Green rating, it seems to tick all the standard boxes: efficient air conditioning and circulation, double skinned glazing and sensor-operated lighting.
While the building’s eco-agenda checks out, the rest of the tower is much less impressive…
Maximus
4 Min Read
Athfield Architects have scooped the waterfront prize-pool, with a clean sweep win of all the sites covered in the Kumutoto North competition. Well done indeed to Ath and his merry band of cliffside dwellers. Wellington Waterfront also deservers kudos for having running a competition in the first place, and for sneaking out the press release a mere 5 months after the competition was held. We’re not…
Maximus
2 Min Read
At the far end of the waterfront promenade from the recently opened oHtel, lies the newest addition to the waterfront: the BNZ ‘groundscraper’. It’s a big building that must treat its bulk carefully, but fortunately what is emerging from the scaffolding seems much more interesting than what the first renders gave it credit for. The architects have clearly delved deep into their bag of tricks to…