Comments on: There’s a fine line between best and worst, apparently

By: Robyn

Robyn — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 06:47:46 +0000

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?

By: Paul Litterick

Paul Litterick — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 12:34:35 +0000

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.

By: Robyn

Robyn — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 10:38:40 +0000

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.