Here we go again! Just when you thought it was safe to assume “no more roads”, along comes a proposal… …to Get Welly Moving. If you want to know all about it, I suggest you go to the official LGWM website, where they can show you lots of stuff, but I thought I might copy some of the proposals across here, so that a more open…
While this blog site is aimed at matters urban and matters Wellingtonian, there arises an occasional foray into waters further south – and this is one such case. Wellington is, as we all know, home to one of the finest waterfronts in the world, and is certainly the creme de la creme of waterfronts in Aotearoa, being possibly only excelled by that of Rawene. Auckland doesn’t…
Sometimes it feels like that we are at the end of the earth, away from all the troubles of the northern hemisphere – and to a large extent we are. Modern media means that we hear about these issues instantly, but in reality, most events there do not directly concern us. Indirectly, we feel it strongly, but actually? Meh! We can ignore a lot of what…
Uh-oh! Were architects once one of the most-trusted professions on the planet? Certainly way more trustable and capable than Estate Agents or Journalists, and way way above Politicians and Used Car Salesmen, there used to be an aura of invincibility amongst architects. Cool, calm and collected, aloof from the commonplace skulduggery and the boring day-to-day dalliance of the bourgeoisie. Not any more, so it seems, according…
Thirty years is a long time to think about a sequel. Many sequels try to equal the original, most sequels fail, miserably. If Blade Runner was such a gloriously influential cult film, how do you top it with a sequel of any sort? But as you probably know by now, Blade Runner 2049 is not bad at all. Arguably, its fantastic, if we want to have…
Going to see Blade Runner again on Saturday night was like sleeping with an old friend that you had not seen for years. It was exciting, but not entirely unexpected; it was what you remembered, but with other parts you had forgotten how they went together; it was like being home at last, but it was also just as good as the first time. There is…
There was some wonderful wooden news about Wellington last night, with the announcement of a new timber tower for the CBD. It’s a new building being developed for Robert Jones Holdings, which in itself is unusual as Sir Robert Jones normally just likes to buy and hold, but here his company has decided to redevelop the existing site. The new building has been designed according to…
I’m filling in here while Levi is away (not sure when he’ll be back again), so here is a welcome tale, not exactly about Wellington, but definitely about Architecture. You’ve probably all heard about the Venice Biennale of Art, where New Zealand has been exhibiting for the last several times, some more successfully than others? There’s also a Biennale of Architecture too, and Aotearoa has been…
Sad news today that the Matterhorn is to close. A Wellington institution, a Cuba St staple, a 60s icon beyond compare. In many other worlds, the Matterhorn would be a sacrosanct thing, a protected and listed function, and yet here, at the word of an engineer, it is to be largely destroyed. Sad indeed. But hold on a sec – is that all true? Is it…
There’s something ever appealing about Walt Disney’s mouse creation that transcends the years – but even I thought I had double vision at this sight – somewhere in a german back street from memory. But this got me thinking – not really in any particular urban or architectural way, but just generally thinking about Mickey as a cultural icon. In a uniquely NZ context of course,…