Speaker by Various Artists

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Speaker: The Architecture of Elsewhere

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  • 81stcolumn,

    Paul -

    I sympathise, Napeir seems to have acquired its very own Prince Charles mentality (I wonder what Brits have to look forward to with Bill the Balding....).

    But by way of a modest couterpoint Napier is conspicuous and people travel to see the buildings there, surely there must be something learned form that ?

    Even the city of dreaming spires struggles at times

    Nawthshaw • Since Nov 2006 • 790 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha,

    Thanks, Hilary.

    Britomart station seems determined to be a native forest

    A metal one.

    ugly is in the eye of the beholder

    Raybon Kan splendidly scathing about the new building on TV3's Campbell Live fill-in, @Seven:

    Terrorists will drive past and think "let's not bother, that one's already been hit"

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Ben Austin,

    Speaking of the Supreme Court building, does anyone have any links to high quality photos of the completed building?

    I've had a look about and have only found a couple of very small images here and there - most of the results from searching seem to be either Prince William or the architect's illustrations.

    London • Since Nov 2006 • 1027 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    Raybon Kan splendidly scathing about the new building on TV3's Campbell Live fill-in, @Seven

    Ouch... though not as cruel as one wag's assessment of Norman Foster's reconstruction of the Reichstag dome in Berlin: "This marks a significant advance in Anglo-German relations. At least Sir Norman is designing ugly buildings in Berlin instead of carpet bombing them."

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

  • Paul Litterick,

    But by way of a modest couterpoint Napier is conspicuous and people travel to see the buildings there, surely there must be something learned form that ?

    Indeed; it will be a chapter in my PhD. Had we kept a few more of our old buildings in Auckland and 'repurposed' them, we might have a less alienating city today.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 1000 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha,

    I've had a look about and have only found a couple of very small images here and there - most of the results from searching seem to be either Prince William or the architect's illustrations.

    Same. The brief tvnz news story shows some views and talks to the designer.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Andre,

    The Supreme Court looks awful outside but okay inside.

    I thought the Master Builders Federation House Of the Year Awards were a good idea so we launched the magazine for them and raised their initial sponsorship -Sacha designed it. The basis was that architects were getting credit when at times workmanship was ignored.

    If you have fellow builders judging your work and they say it's good ,then that is what counts. GJ Gardner were a small firm advertising in the first issue back in 1993. Early adopters - good on them!

    New Zealand • Since May 2009 • 371 posts Report Reply

  • Kumara Republic,

    Re Christchurch, Peter Beaven said that it was the only city in New Zealand where architecture is practised rather than undertaken.

    The same can be said for the likes of Ian Athfield & Roger Walker in Wellywood.

    The southernmost capital … • Since Nov 2006 • 5446 posts Report Reply

  • Robyn Gallagher,

    The Art Deco Trust has killed architecture in Napier, so that everything that is built must be a pastiche of a pastiche.

    When I was there last, I realised that the buildings built in a non-art-deco style ended up being the ones that stood out the most.

    The new Scenic Hotel Te Pania manages to be beautiful and curvy and of its beachside location without the need for fibreglass sunbursts or chevrons.

    Since Nov 2006 • 1946 posts Report Reply

  • Robyn Gallagher,

    BTW, the screen on the Supreme Court building reminds me of the screens I've seen on some buildings in Noumea, designed to protect the building in case of a cyclone. For example, the Best Western. There the practical purpose of the screen shares a pleasing aesthetic quality.

    It makes me wonder what natural disaster the Supreme Court screen is going to defend it from.

    Since Nov 2006 • 1946 posts Report Reply

  • Paul Litterick,

    That will be another chapter in my PhD, one tentatively entitled "Warren and Mahoney: what were they thinking?"

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 1000 posts Report Reply

  • Just thinking,

    The return to statehouse design is really simple = Leaky Homes. Bad design, building materials & workmanship.
    So the search for what worked, statehouses worked, add insulation and double glazing then sit back and relax.

    Warren hasn't done any good work since the Christchurch Town Hall in the 1970s, but he is 80. His work of the 1950s was really cool. He has since claimed himself something of a Heritage Architect and has undermined our cities heritage on a number of sites. A patron of the Arts Foundation if you're interested in ethics.

    As for the Arts Centre stouch. It's the worst case of Blind Mans Bluff I've ever played. (Rod Carr is legally blind & past debating team mate of Michael Lhaws).

    Putaringamotu • Since Apr 2009 • 1158 posts Report Reply

  • Just thinking,

    I must admit I've never been to Napier, but the idea of keeping an area in a theme isn't bad. They rebuilt in triumphant defiance in the Art Deco style, as it was in NZ.
    I see the vision as our version of Warsaw.

    Putaringamotu • Since Apr 2009 • 1158 posts Report Reply

  • Tony Parker,

    The Art Deco Trust has killed architecture in Napier, so that everything that is built must be a pastiche of a pastiche.

    Not entirely true. Within the inner city there is encouragement to follow along Art Deco lines but no compulsion as such. If it hadn't been for the trust we probably would have had a lot more ugly monoliths like the Manchester Unity building in the main street. Now days people are advised more by the trust on colour schemes and how alterations can fit in with existing architechture. Mind you it hasn't stopped a number of faceless motels being built along Marine Parade. And the plans for the new art gallery and museum have little or no Art Deco features.

    The new Scenic Hotel Te Pania manages to be beautiful and curvy and of its beachside location without the need for fibreglass sunbursts or chevrons.

    Yeah that's not bad and benefits from being away from most other buildings so there no direct contrast with Art Deco. Just wouldn't wan't live behind it though.

    Napier • Since Nov 2008 • 232 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha,

    Too delicious. the Auckland Herald has a moan about Wellington's city centre civic architecture, calling its nikau palm theme "desperate kitsch" and the new Supreme court exterior "vulgar". Probably pining for some retreaded ivy-clad private school Northern Club yesteryear, or that wonderful integration between its own city's major buildings.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Andrew Stevenson,

    When travelling in Eastern Europe I'd keep coming across some god damn awful ugly concrete monstrosity towering over the local buildings and looking completely out of place.
    They were instantly recognisable, one was the Chemistry building at Auckland University (complete with pebbled panels), another had to be the PSIS building on Featherston St, Engineering School had obviously been shipped over in my absence. Ministry of Works 'ugly things in concrete' public buildings, it almost made me homesick.
    Apparently they were 'gifts' from the Soviets to their clients, who had to pay for them though, and were invariably hated.
    How the design ideology got transferred to NZ I have no idea.

    If you say design matters, please specify good design.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 206 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha,

    Speaking of bolting on new bits, found this video flythrough of the new Auckland Art Gallery (with an entrance canopy that looks suspiciously nikau-ish):

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Tom Semmens,

    The new Scenic Hotel Te Pania manages to be beautiful and curvy and of its beachside location without the need for fibreglass sunbursts or chevrons.

    Yeah that's not bad and benefits from being away from most other buildings so there no direct contrast with Art Deco.

    You guys are joking, right? That hotel is an epic fail of the basic kind - function. That one would build a glass wall that faces the rising sun and not consider airconditioning as an essential component calls into question the general competence of the architects who designed it; From the Marine Parade road front the hotel presents a somewhat tatty wall of discolouring curtains and strapped on aircon units. One is left suspecting the curve is a happy accident of shoddy concrete pouring, not deliberate design intent.

    The Art Deco Trust has killed architecture in Napier, so that everything that is built must be a pastiche of a pastiche.

    Well, possibly. But at least it has allowed Napier to have a debate about architecture in it's CBD. The way the Napier City Council treats other aspects of it's local architectural heritage probably more accurately reflects the fact Napier is the hometown of two notable provincial barbarians that have made it to the national stage, Anne Tolley and Chris Tremain. Anything not Art Deco (and therefore recognised as valuable) is knocked down. In particular the California-style bungalow, the iconic housing style I recall from the endless summers of my youth in Napier, are knocked down without pause for thought.

    The Napier architectural curse was and is, of course, Paris Magdalinos. He built a couple of half decent places that had some merit. But when the locals woke up to the possibility of some actual contemporary architectural merit in their midst their subsequent aping of his style merely reinforced the truism that provincials are, well, provincial. Most of what has been produced is in a truly hideous, uniform style. If one were to take most of these monstrosities (one hesitates to call them "houses"), re-locate them to the Pas-de-Calais and put a 155mm gun in the lounge then they would look much more at home as part of the crumbling remnants of Hitler's Atlantic wall.

    If you want to see a particularly good example of blind Kiwi architectural vandalism, where economic, cultural, and architectural philistinism comes together in form and function, check out Napier's Charles Street and especially West Shore Esplanade. West Shore beach is itself a victim of environmental vandalism of the Port Company, which was never held to account by a council to terrified to upset a major local business. Where once was a beautiful,classically Kiwi seaside street of 1930's and 1940's weatherboard bungalows there is now a monument to ostentatious bad taste, full of aspirational kitsch "Magdalinos" McMansions that I regard as an abomination, but is probably peopled with John Key's base.

    The barbarians of West Shore have stolen my childhood.

    Sevilla, Espana • Since Nov 2006 • 2217 posts Report Reply

  • Caleb D'Anvers,

    And let us not forget the new Supreme Court building, opened this very day by Prince William the Balding. Apparently, it is a tree, a Pohutakawa. This probably explains why it looks crap.

    Yeah. To me, the pohutukawa motif just comes off as defensive cladding. It looks like it's built in anticipation of a truckbomb.

    The problem with a lot of "visionary" public architecture is the pressure to make a "statement." Which is a category error. Words, sentences, books, make statements. Buildings do something else. If you try to do with a building what's best done with a printed manifesto, you're going to miss the whole point of what buildings are actually for (other than "expressing discourse" or "contributing to an ongoing conversation about national identity," etc., etc.)

    London SE16 • Since Mar 2008 • 482 posts Report Reply

  • Hilary Stace,

    Robyn, just what I was thinking about the natural disaster aspect of the bronze spiderweb covering the court. It probably has useful earthquake survival properties, such as holding the building together and preventing glass crashing on to the street.

    But I do like buildings that cause people to go along for a look and then talk about it. The other construction I have been watching are the international terminal 'copper rocks' at Wellington airport. Can't quite see how it will look yet, but I'm sure it will make a statement that (apart from the landing) this is not just another airport.

    Wgtn • Since Jun 2008 • 3229 posts Report Reply

  • Leopold,

    "And speaking of NZ architecture (or lack thereof) I've become really disturbed at how many new houses are built in the style of 1930s state houses."

    I'll stick with that design rather than those faux-mediterranee efforts, thanks - far better adapted to NZ climate (hint: we are pluvial) - and the much derided 1930's state houses had quality workmanship and materials

    Since Jan 2007 • 153 posts Report Reply

  • Tom Semmens,

    Hmmm. When I saw the new Supreme court my first thought was someone should mold in bronze some old pairs of sneakers tied together and hang them from the bronze work.

    After all, you'll usually be able to score a tinny off someone in the building. If not from a defendent then definitely from a lawyer.

    Sevilla, Espana • Since Nov 2006 • 2217 posts Report Reply

  • recordari,

    Speaking of bolting on new bits, found this video flythrough of the new Auckland Art Gallery (with an entrance canopy that looks suspiciously nikau-ish):

    Another tacky-on destroyer.

    Having worked in the NAG, and been through the discussion and planning for the MONZ/Te Papa, I don't really care what it looks like, I just want to know how much of the space will be actually dedicated to showing art. Hopefully that was in the brief.

    AUCKLAND • Since Dec 2009 • 2607 posts Report Reply

  • Paul Litterick,

    Speaking of category errors, the Herald editorial's melding of art, architecture and constitutional law is remarkable.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 1000 posts Report Reply

  • Tony Parker,

    From the Marine Parade road front the hotel presents a somewhat tatty wall of discolouring curtains and strapped on aircon units.

    Actually having had breakfast there the other day i will admit that this does detract from the overall look.

    The barbarians of West Shore have stolen my childhood.

    You're not wrong there.
    As for Paris M, he may have designed some half decent places....but a lot of them leak.

    Napier • Since Nov 2008 • 232 posts Report Reply

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