Because I am a glutton for punishment, I sat down and watched the entire WCC Council sub-committee meeting recently, on the discussion around Te Ngakau Civic Square. It was also the first time I have watched new Mayor Andrew Little. In contrast to previous mayors, this meeting went really smoothly – Little was not the Chair of the meeting, and said relatively little. That’s a big step forward for Wellington – we’ve had too many half-arsed nutty Councillors in previous years, some of whom are still there – but they were all very well behaved today. Things are looking up…. I hope!
So, what were they discussing? Well, amazingly, asking Councillors to vote for some $23 million of savings, and all this was being carefully explained. And debated, including right down to the nitty gritty – or $2.5m difference between permanent closure of the former Capital E building and a “cold shell” refurbishment instead. Bug discussion was: What the heck to do with it? Nightclub? Music Venue? Who said Apartments?!? Theatre? Certainly no-one is suggesting Children’s Experience venue any more. Maybe the best suggestion was simply: Storage Venue. Hmmmm. Your suggestions please!
Here’s a plan – these are all screen grabs from the live stream from YouTube – sorry about the quality.
Here’s an optimistic picture of happy laughing people converging in Te Ngakau – but the thing to really get excited about here is the flat surface, and the excision of the most popular feature: a rectangle of artificial grass. Everyone loves the “football pitch” except for Nicola Young, who says it is horrible and she is glad to see it go. Clearly not a fan of lunchtime football…
Here’s the Programme of renewal, which Farz and the other bloke outlined to the collected Councillors.
You might be wondering what things are in that picture above – for clarification, here is a 3D picture of the “Town Hall Annex” which I think is the white bit on the left, a white wiggly box, like a giant box of corrugated aluminium. In between that and a gold curvy wall to the west side of the Town Hall there appears to be a glass wall – I’m going to presume that this is the entry. No idea who designed this – were Athfield Architects the architects of the Town Hall refurbishment? The new bit may possibly designed by WAM, or maybe SPA, but who knows? Do you knows? Tell us ! It is so bland and devoid of any detail, that who knows what is happening.
Oooh – here is a a picture of a bridge – being supported on one side by a Sea Wall and on the other side by a potential Storage depot. Can we please stop calling it Capital E by now?
Here’s a shot of the Old Town Hall, in the process of being put back together again. Or, a storage depot for stacks of timber, enjoying the music at a performance of John Cage…
Let’s enjoy this updated picture of the Civic Square – with some spotty tiles which are probably a (very advanced, we hope) form of infinitely water-resistant waterproofing. But hold on a second – what is that right there? A timber box on stilts? Can we Zoom in to that picture a little?
Why Yes we can – by the magic of modern science we can see that it is indeed a timber box – looks like some slabs of CLT sitting on a steel frame. And to my mind, this looks a lot more interesting than the white wavering wibbly wall as shown in the images a bit higher up. Funzies!
In truth this may be nothing much more than a toilet block for TownHall goers, or possibly a central listening post for the (formerly deleted?) mixing desk / recording studio. But it deserves for us to know more – where / what / who / how / why? Details on a postcard please!
