My current favourite building. Old, definitely decrepit, but there is something about this building that I just really like. Is it the proportion? The colour? The fact the paint is peeling off? Or just the two iconic, muscular, male figures doing hard work over a stark white anvil? I can only presume that this was once a house for the Unionists in Wellington, going purely from…
For years sitting as an empty hole on the eastern shores of the harbour, an eyesore, a broken tooth, a derelict blot on the landscape left behind by the departing Defense department – we Wellingtonians had joy in our hearts and hope in our chests when, just over a year ago, the derelict blot of Shelly Bay was decreed to at last be on the move,…
For years sitting as an empty hole in Courtenay Place, an eyesore, a broken tooth, a scab upon the sullen carcass of downtown retailing – we Wellingtonians had joy in our hearts and hope in our chests when, 16 years ago, the hole was at last infilled with a lightweight facade and a large name tag: Courtenay Central ! Such big city delights as a multiplex…
Bit of a rush post, because you only have one day to view this – Rostrevor House, the greenish building on the corner of Marion Street and Vivian Street, is having giant strengthening frames installed today. It’s pretty exciting stuff. The frames (made by Fitzroy Engineering in New Plymouth) have travelled down at night and are going to be craned into position today. Honestly: blink and…
Tory Street has been closed off since the big Kaikoura quake sequence last year, and has only just reopened to traffic and to the public. The old 9-storey car parking building, built in the era of Chase Corp, and destined to be the car parking answer to a 30 storey office and hotel tower (on the Reading site) that thankfully never happened, has been shovelled up…
At long last, it seems that a resolution has been reached on the Island Bay Cycleway. The Working Party, a coalition of local residents, local businesses, and Council representatives, lead by Labour deputy Mayor and local Councillor Paul Eagle, has come up with a plan to finalise and resolve the somewhat controversial Island Bay Cycleway scheme. The project has been mired in controversy from the first…
Everything looks better with sparkles, seems to be the motto of the Cuba Dupa carnival organisers. And apart from the glistening rain drops, everything was indeed sparkling over the weekend, with the whole of Cuba Street entering into the spirit. This town sure knows how to party! I love this city, with the mad way that we have taken the name of one of our first…
Did Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, or Jean-Jacques Rousseau have in mind the water infrastructure of Wellington (a city which didn’t exist yet) when they drafted their theories on social contract? We cannot say. Nevertheless, water management is certainly bringing social contract into play in New Zealand, at both a national and urban level: public outcry over international exploitation of national water supplies has highlighted the responsibility…
Sometimes an event comes along that you just feel that you HAVE to bring to the attention of others. This is one. On Wednesday March 22, at 6.00pm at the School of Architecture, the principal of Studio LADA (Landscape, Architecture, Design, Art) will present a public talk. Lada Hrsak (ex-Zagreb and now based in Amsterdam), looks at the world’s population growth “through the eyes of a…
Let’s Get Welly Moving is the regional agency based collaboration, tasked to sort out Wellington’s transport woes. It follows on from the debacle over the failed Basin Bridge proposal, when NZTA decided we would have a “choice” of Flyover A or Flyover B, and both WCC and GWRC sat on their hands and pretended that the problem was “nothing to do with me, mate.” Let’s Get…