Today’s post is a special one, contributed by regular reader Starkive By 1972 New Zealanders were questioning the environmental impact of humans and their engineering. A plan to further raise Lake Manapouri – already flooded for Comalco power – triggered a national reaction. The proposed extra dams were damned by hundreds of thousands of petitioners. An advertising jingle for fibreglass batts went to Number 1 on…
Fish
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nemo
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It’s a pretty lonely life here at the Eye of the Fish – tough at the top, as they say. But there are some things that have become a sort of yearly tradition, and one of those is to leave a gone fishing sign, or something that indicates that the author may indeed return one day. Readership plummets as well, as everyone is at the beach…
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nemo
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I’ve been wondering what the insides are like on the Dixon Street flats – never been in behind the doors at the base. Perhaps I’ll try to get in, now that they are moving people out. In the WCC Heritage Archive, there are these plans in a report. The only real drawing there is this one, which gives us the overall picture, but not much of…
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nemo
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In the typical manner of the bus, where you wait forever and then three buses come at once, so it feels for topics of conversation this week. I was going to write, I thought, on the possible move for Reading Cinema and Shopping Centre to leap back to life, having been so moribund for so many years. Then I thought, no, no, what if I was…
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nemo
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This post was going to be called “New School of Music” but then I thought – no, hold on, this could really cause a stink. What if…? Is it? Was it? No, surely not. But maybe….? Who knows? I’ve just been alerted to the revised scheme for what was at one stage known as the new “School of Music” down by the Michael Fowler Centre –…
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nemo
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Arguably, the brand new building on Site 9 at Kumutoto, leased out to lawyers Bell Gully and others, will be the last ever new building constructed on the waterfront. This marks a huge milestone therefore – it is, I think, the last building site identified on the Waterfront Framework. Site 7 became home to what is now the Meridian building, site 6 was presumably the site…
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nemo
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Elizabeth Cox’s book Making Space – A History of New Zealand Women in Architecture is a treasure trove of information, that I suspect will take me several weeks to fully read and digest. The book is a fantastic achievement, spanning the last century and a half, with a number of guest chapters by other great women architect authors, focusing on the amazingly large number of women…
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Celebrate! Well done Wellington, for electing a fresh, new, young Maori woman Mayor, Tory Whanau – and farewell and thank you to Andy Foster, for leading the city over the last few years and for battling through with the battle of the factions. I’m hoping that Tory’s ability to wrangle young Green MPs into shape will also extend to wrangling Tamatha Paul and Rebecca Matthews –…
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The news was only out yesterday, and briefly mentioned on the news, but I have a horrible feeling that this is going to have a massive effect on New Zealand, and on Wellington in particular. Have a look at this screen grab from the Stuff website: That’s a massive change all over – but especially for the capital. Previously we were the most risky place, with…
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nemo
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Today (Monday) is the last day for submissions on the proposed District Plan that will govern the shape of the city for the next 50 years. You have until 5pm today to get a submission in, and then after that, your goose is cooked. The shape of the city is then set in stone, or concrete and steel, and in some cases, timber or even plastic….