I’m loving the new kiwi version of Grand Designs. The host, Chris Moller, seems to be settling well into his job – and last night’s show was an absolute blinder. Architect Nic Ballara’s house (BBC Architects), clinging to the side of a cliff in Wellington, was a fascinating build to watch, and the finished creation was a joy to behold. Even the Stuff website has some…
Fish
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Leviathan
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Zealandia: funny name, funny building, great concept. When it was started off, it was seen as a mad, wild-eyed crazy concept, that all rodents could be eradicated and just the flightless birds kept. It became New Zealand’s first – and perhaps the world’s first mainland sanctuary for flightless birds. Nowadays, of course, it has proved that it can indeed be done and indeed, the concept is…
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Leviathan
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Today is the Future. Yes indeed: we have finally got there. 21 October 2015, the far off future as envisaged by Spielberg and the Doc and Marty McFly all those years ago in 1985. Yes, I know, half the world may also be celebrating this fictional episode, but why can’t we do that at the Eye of the Fish as well? After all, if you’re going…
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Leviathan
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We may, or may not, be going to get a longer runway, but it seems we are going to be getting a largish hotel to stay in, next to jet city. I’m honestly not sure how I feel about airport hotels – having only once stayed in one when I got bumped off a flight in the USA and we got bussed to an anonymous block…
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Leviathan
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Wellington has long had a good sense of social justice in its housing portfolio – but has also been lagging behind with the upgrades, until recently. Over the last 10 years many of the social housing blocks in Wellington have been substantially refurbed – and now comes the turn of Arlington. This block, a large central city Mt Cook / Te Aro / Edge of Aro…
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Leviathan
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Newsflash – the RIBA have just awarded the Gold Medal to Zaha Hadid. Fantastic news – she’s one of my heroes. Totally brilliant, totally mad, totally British, totally uncompromising, totally scary. Fantastic woman, fantastic architect – and fantastic also that this is the first time ever that the RIBA, traditionally a collection of crusty boring old men, has crowned a woman with the Gold Medal. I…
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Leviathan
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It’s Wellington Architecture Week, apparently, and it has been going on all week long – apparently. Sorry – I’ve nearly missed the whole thing. Been busy. So, without more ado, here is the info on what’s going down. There are a couple of pages with info on, writing is a bit small to read, so not sure if this will work: and then there is this,…
Leviathan
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Wellington is in an interesting place right now. We are not growing as fast as they are in Auckland, but I don’t hear anyone complaining over that. Auckland’s growth figures in housing cost are frightening in both the short term and the long term, with a property bubble seeming ready to pop. It is a volatile situation, on the verge of being totally out of control,…
Leviathan
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Leaving the smokescreen that is the Flag debate behind, to concentrate on more important things: how would we house refugees? Yes, I think everyone except for John Key gets it that there is a massive problem with floods of people moving countries, and that New Zealand needs to play its part. 750 people per year is pathetic. Even Labour and the Greens proposals for 1000, or…
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Leviathan
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I’ve not yet heard a single person say that they think any of the 4 selected flags are the right one – so, fairly predictably, the whole flag / rebranding exercise has failed. Which is not surprising when you get people as design-unsavvy as an aged ex-AllBlack and a reality TV show creator on the panel. A horse/flag designed by a committee is a camel –…