So, IGNITE Architects want you to tell them what the best and worst buildings in Auckland are.
The survey is supported by Ignite Architects who want to have greater public discussion about the development of Auckland. Ignite Architects is passionate about good design principles and creating environments that allow people to thrive. This philosophy emanates throughout all of their work, from commercial and residential, civic to resort.
It’s interesting to note that a couple of the buildings that they offer up for suggestions are also hotels that got bad reviews from us - perhaps as bad building examples, but they’re not marked as such.
What’s even more interesting to note is that presumably IGNITE is trying to tell us that they’re all about good design, but I found the site bloody hard to figure out. If you want to vote for a building as best, you need to bring it up large, then spot the greyed-out medal in the top left-hand corner of the window, then click on that to move on, and if you mistakenly select one, the only way to clear it is to vote for another. And then you get to choose the worst building, represented by a rainy cloud. Of course! It all makes sense. Oh no wait, no it doesn’t. While it’s an interesting idea (that has been done before in another city), it’s terribly executed by Seven “Visual Communications”. Perhaps it’s a case of “Those who can’t, poll”?
I really like that they’ve evidently gone to the effort of taking flattering photos of all the nominated buildings, even though some of them are stereotypically “ugly” buildings.
My pic for favourite is the Auckland City Civic Building. It was originally designed to have a number of smaller buildings fanning out at its base, so it wasn’t just this giant long finger, flipping off the city. But one thing the architect intended was that it not be a giant block of a building. Its glass walls were meant to give it a sort of transparency, like it was just hanging out in the area.
Its context has been changed with the building of Aotea Square, the Aotea Centre and being circled by Mayoral Drive in the ’80s, but I think it still works as a building. I’m hoping it will be appreciated more as mid-century modernist architecture is loved again.
You know what was missing from the list? Auckland Central Police Station. It’s a one-size-fits all 1970s NZ government building (the Blenheim CPO is a variant on the same design). Only Northern Ireland has police stations that drive a bigger line between the police and the public. Horrible.
Richard Donner had an earlier plan for the civic centre which was more ambitious still - it would have required demolishing everything in the neighbourhood, including the Town Hall and the Civic Theatre, replacing them with long, low blocks; all very Mies.
Sill, it would have been better than Chancery.
Once I was up in the library looking through old council propaganda, when I saw a plan for a new building (perhaps from the late ’60s or the early ’70s), which would have had a few floors of shops, then an office block on top.
I looked at it and thought, “Hm, I wonder why that didn’t get built,” and thought maybe Queen Street would be a different place if it had.
I tried to work out where the building was, and was suddenly horrified to realise that it was on the corner where the Civic Theatre is, snuggled between the Bledisloe Building and Queen Street. I’m so glad it wasn’t built.
P.S. Tibor Donner, you mean?