It was hard to ignore all the hype, but I managed. I went away for the weekend to a remote hut in the bush, with no electricity or internet or tv, just a fireplace and a transistor radio, which I turned off when the Royal Wedding started. I’m clearly not one of these sad pathetic people: but nor am I yet one of these Republicans (in…
Fish
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Leviathan
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We’re now six months into the Adern-led government, and this is the first real stab that Labour et al have had at solving the Housing Crisis. I’m keen to explore what the details of this budget mean to us, i.e. to the architecture, building, housing community. Disappointed that so far the main stream media haven’t really tackled this yet. Commenters have, of course, been quick off…
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Leviathan
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The prospect of a new Embassy for the People’s Republic of China has been a long time coming – and now, at last, it is here. Well, nearly. The site has been empty for years – so long, in fact, that I really can’t remember what was there before, except for the Swimming Pool of the Girls and Boys Institute ? Off in the far south…
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Leviathan
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News from the WCC this week, was that they have allocated $500,000 in funding for works towards seismic strengthening of heritage buildings, via the Built Heritage Incentive Fund. “The BHIF supports owners with the conservation and seismic strengthening of heritage buildings. This project combines with a number of others to support our resilience and environmental objectives, which we are currently encouraging public feedback on. Based on…
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Leviathan
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Sadly, David Mitchell has passed away. His son Julian put it this way: David John Mitchell, sailor, adventurer, writer, wit, teacher, musician, dancer, styler, reader and architect has left us. We will sure miss the old boy! Love you dad. As an avowed Aucklander, Mitchell may not be known as well down here, but he was a lovely character, always with an impish grin, previously sporting…
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Leviathan
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For various reasons, I’ve got a huge interest in Sea level rise, both here in Wellington and around the world, but I shouldn’t be any different from anyone else. We should ALL have a strong interest in sea level rise – it sort of goes hand in hand with global warming and climate change. So, when I saw this quite cool article about Wellington City Council…
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Leviathan
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It’s been a busy week for news so far, and I’m still hiding in bed from all the coldness. But there is some news of go-aheads: the long-debated Chinese Garden gets the go-ahead, although I’m not sure if anyone really wants it; and the Shelly Bay housing plan has the handbrake released, so that too can go ahead. There are things to be said both for…
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Leviathan
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Front page article on the Dominion Post today, faithfully reporting that there is a good chance that Wellington may indeed have a chance at getting a light rail system. That’s quite amazing – not that we have a chance, but that the DomPost hasn’t immediately been sneering about it. Maybe they have a different attitude to it now that Celia has gone. But what is even…
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Leviathan
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Although this is a Wellington-focused blog, there are some matters in Architecture that go further afield than our small corner of the world, and sometimes we venture forth. One of these, looked at today, is the Auckland Architecture School Library and Archive, an integral part of the Arch School at University of Auckland. It is, it has to be said, the best architecture Library in the…
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Not in Wellington, I know, and not about housing as I had promised, but this sad tale has got me intrigued. Multiple deaths and no doubt multi-million dollar lawsuits to come, but it is worth looking at in closer detail in case Wellington ever decides to go down the overpass route again. We used to have quite a few. Not so many now. So, let’s recap…