While it is sad to see the mighty Queen City of Auckland brought to its knees over some rain, it is nice not to have Aucklanders constantly be rude about Wellington weather. And also: note that none of us down here are making fun of them up there, knowing full well that, there but for the grace of God, go us. But first up, something to…
auckland
14 Articles
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Leviathan
5 Min Read
Although this is a Wellington-focused blog, there are some matters in Architecture that go further afield than our small corner of the world, and sometimes we venture forth. One of these, looked at today, is the Auckland Architecture School Library and Archive, an integral part of the Arch School at University of Auckland. It is, it has to be said, the best architecture Library in the…
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Maximus
5 Min Read
Buying the latest copy of Monocle the other day, as one of the few quality, intelligent, and witty magazines out there, I could not help but notice, once again, that Wellington does not feature at all in their list of the World’s Top 25 Cities for Quality of Life. Nor does it feature in the Economist magazine’s similarly titled list. Yet we know that Lonely Planet…
Maximus
2 Min Read
So: the race for Auckland is over, and Brown has pipped Blue at the post. At the time of writing, we’re still to see if Green will pip Blue in Wellington, with Celia and Kerry running neck and neck down the home straight. But I am very happy that John Banks is not the new mayor of the new city of Auckland. The issue I have…
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Maximus
6 Min Read
Poor old Auckland – even though I can’t stand the place, it is almost getting my vote of sympathy this week. First up, some good news: they’ve banned Vuvuzelas from Eden Park. Personally I think they should bring in a mandatory shoot-on-sight policy for anyone found wielding one, but that might be a little harsh for a $2 piece of plastic. But secondly, time for some…
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Maximus
2 Min Read
Top prize in the NZIA New Zealand Architecture Awards last night in Auckland went to Ironbank, by RTA Studio. Fantastic building, stunningly iconographic, and well-deserved. It’s a tour-de-force of the art of the architect – yes, agreed that perhaps the structural logic could be argued to be, shall we say, “overly complex” – but its a building that you just can’t help but like. The dark,…
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Maximus
3 Min Read
Aah well, sounds like no one quite fell for it yesterday – the prospect must have been just too outrageous. Although: weirder things have happened. Like what, I hear you ask? Well, like the National government passing legislation in one day to abolish a democratically elected environment board. I mean, isn’t that just the littlest bit anti-democratic? Just the teensiest bit like what fascists dictators do,…
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Maximus
4 Min Read
It’s times like this that I feel quite sorry for Aucklanders. Not only are they having the mutha of all political conglomerations shoved down their necks without so much as a by-your-leave, and not only are they being stung with governance by 7 quangos over which they will have no control, and not only do they have an incoherent waterfront and no sign of fixing it,…
Maximus
4 Min Read
Perhaps we don’t need to be mean to Auckland and its architecture, as it seems to be quite good at beating itself up. The AAA has been running a competition called Urban Eye, for a written entry on Auckland Architecture. We’re sorry we missed it. Some of the entries are so good, they could almost have been written by the Fish. But no: we’re innocent. Mind…
Maximus
5 Min Read
I wasn’t going to write anything more this week, but the latest shenanigans in Auckland have me chortling with laughter. So-called Super City – you can keep it. A more disorganised bunch couldn’t be found. But then what can you expect if you have John Banks and Murray McCully in the same room, making decisions on the future of Auckland based on the needs of a…
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