Architecture + (plus what, one may ask, to complete the equation), have been one of the busiest architects in the city of late, barring Athfields and Archaus of course. They have recently unveiled the Republic 2 apartments, close on the tail of the Republic (1), which itself followed quickly behind the Monument, which followed the Piermont, and that followed the Portal. Someone’s been spending long hours…
architecture
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In the wake of the Athfield waterfront win, a new seed is set to sprout up in the inner city. Taking root in the Willis New World Metro, this new tower is the latest in a string of green buildings that have been proposed or built. Aiming to achieve a five star Green rating, it seems to tick all the standard boxes: efficient air conditioning and circulation, double skinned glazing and sensor-operated lighting.
While the building’s eco-agenda checks out, the rest of the tower is much less impressive…
At the far end of the waterfront promenade from the recently opened oHtel, lies the newest addition to the waterfront: the BNZ ‘groundscraper’. It’s a big building that must treat its bulk carefully, but fortunately what is emerging from the scaffolding seems much more interesting than what the first renders gave it credit for. The architects have clearly delved deep into their bag of tricks to…
Tory Street, named after a settler ship bringing population to Poneke, has for many years been a skinny urban backwater. The road is too narrow to work as a fast route for four-wheeled commuters, but this results in a nice walkable street, certainly less windy than Taranaki. It is populated by small, quirky businesses set in small, quirky buildings: the Mall drycleaners, the Hawthorn Lounge, the Tory Urban Retreat and Moore Wilson‘s. Big businesses and big buildings are largely unknown, the exception being Telecom’s stumpy tower blocks near Courtenay Place.
However change is in the air – as well as a perplexing plethora of fly away roofs.
Wellington’s buildings continue to surprise and delight me, relative newcomer as I am to this small, perfectly-formed city. It’s not a place that you could say has great traditions of anything in particular – it has demolished most, but not all of its Victorian heritage, has a fine collection of post-modern eighties buildings that have firmly gone out of style, with the remaining collection being eclectic…