Posts by Raffe Smith

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  • Southerly: Summer of The L.e.d.s,

    Totally, and ironic given how highly (sub)urbanised our population is. We are also a young culture, and building cities well is one of the most technically difficult human endeavours. That's no excuse, however.

    Mount Albert. • Since Nov 2006 • 40 posts Report Reply

  • Southerly: Summer of The L.e.d.s,

    Perhaps not Che, it's partly my reaction when I try to cross Queen St - I get frustrated by the traffic volumes, coming from j-walking Wellington. I was thinking there could be a dedicated bus/tram lane at either side adjacent to the footpath, and the central two lanes for cars.

    Mount Albert. • Since Nov 2006 • 40 posts Report Reply

  • Southerly: Summer of The L.e.d.s,

    Delusions of grandeur are great, especially for muggy Friday afternoons at work.

    I would remove two lanes from Queen Street and replace them with an electric tram system, at grade, ala San Francisco. Give the system traffic priority, extend a branch across Grafton to the Domain at one end, and to the Viaduct at the other. Trams run at 2-3 minute intervals, one can just hop on and off. Traditional bells signal the arrival at stops and alert j-walkers. Fantastic, quiet, and pedestrian friendly. Possibly even romantic.

    Britomart needs to double in size and become a through-station rather than a terminus. If Wellington has 8 platforms, then Auckland should have at least that much. Extend the lines west under the city and out to the western suburbs, and north over (or under) the harbour. Get the Germans to build it, they know how to do these things properly.

    Oh, and I second a stadium close to the CBD....not such a silly idea.

    Mount Albert. • Since Nov 2006 • 40 posts Report Reply

  • Hard News: Inauspicious,

    He came up with a 20 year-old BenRiach (Speyside) and Adelphi's Breath of the Isles, a 13 year-old single-cask bottling (309 bottles) from an unnamed island distillery - substituting for the Longmorn and the Talisker respectively.

    Nice. I came across the BenRiach (10yo) as the 'mystery malt' at a tasting once, and it threw a few people because of the peat used in the maltings - many thought it came from Islay! The 20yo sounds intriguing.

    The 25 year old Longmorn is well worth investigating (despite the higher price), a wonderfully smooth, soft and complex whisky. A real Highland gent, and fantastic as an aperitif.

    I love the 10yo Talisker too, but have never had the fortune to try anything else from the distillery, so am also very curious as to what the 13yo is like...

    My entry into single-malts was through the heavily peated and phenolic whiskies of Islay, and I am only now beginning to discover the lighter and more fragrant highland whiskies, which I had originally dismissed as a bit 'boring'. It's a bit of an expensive hobby, but there is a whisky out there for every mood and moment one might have.

    Mount Albert. • Since Nov 2006 • 40 posts Report Reply

  • Hard News: Inauspicious,

    Russell,

    What exactly was your Christmas whisky? Inquiring minds want to know. I assume it was single malt but from which distillery?

    Mount Albert. • Since Nov 2006 • 40 posts Report Reply

  • New Herald site,

    Hmm, I was just wondering when Stuff.co.nz would play catch-up, and lo & behold if you go to their site now, there is a splash page with a new logo and a message apologising for they delay while the newly designed site comes online!

    Herald site looks good - at first it seemed quite busy visually, but I can see how it will all work well. Very fresh & clean. I know many in Auckland moan about the Herald, but I think it is a lot better than the rag we have down here...

    Mount Albert. • Since Nov 2006 • 40 posts Report Reply

  • Yellow Peril: the identity game,

    This is a fascinating thread.

    I am one of those 100% Anglo-Celts (with a hint of Prussian) that goes back 5-6 generations in this country. I have never considered myself as indigenous in any sense of the word. I ticked New Zealand European at the last census, but feel it is a cumbersome term.

    What I feel is more appropriate (entirely from my own perspective, I wouldn't want to speak for others with a similar genealogical background), is the term local. Simply, I feel like a local. I know no other place. The culture in which I grew up and live in exists uniquely here; the indigenous Maori, the imported European tradition, the influx from Asia & the Pacific, the landscape, the tyranny of distance, the smallness.

    Furthermore, to swipe a term from language and architecture, I feel there is a strong, vital and emerging vernacular New Zealand culture, from which I come and am proud of.
    Of course, this vernacular (a wonderfully sounding word!) will never become an ethnicity, but I do believe as an umbrella term it includes and is defined by the multiplicity of identities and ethnicities that live on these islands - it is defined by difference.

    Mount Albert. • Since Nov 2006 • 40 posts Report Reply

  • Hard News: Assault by Monstrous,…,

    I think there is a larger cultural issue at work here: New Zealanders tend to have a problem with Bigness.

    We are a young society that mostly exists on the threshold of land and sea. We do not have a deep experience of Bigness in our history, and through circumstance and a relatively low population density we are only now beginning to learn how to deal with it. Previous examples such as the Clyde Dam and Te Papa proved controversial, windfarms and power pylons provoke extreme and irrational responses, and a comprehensive rail network for Auckland seems beyond our comprehension. The only Bigness we seem comfortable with are (unfortunately) motorways.

    The proposed waterfront stadium is therefore an affront to so many people, who cannot imagine something so Big being placed on the foreshore, their threshold. Even if that threshold is a conduit for adding to the current account deficit and dumping more carbon into the atmosphere.

    The notion of Bigness seems to be closely linked to the idealised image of landscape, and our connection with it, that is so base to our culture. Bigness only occludes the view of Landscape. Despite the dramatic improvement in public space in our cities over the last 15 years (closely linked with coffee, of course), I think our culture is still digesting the concept of constructed landscape and how Bigness can comfortably sit within that, even to add to it.

    Mount Albert. • Since Nov 2006 • 40 posts Report Reply

  • Island Life: Mother, We've Been Goosed,

    ^^ Oh, I meant that the Allianz design rules as an abstract and technical architectural object, not in the context of the Auckland waterfront.

    Mount Albert. • Since Nov 2006 • 40 posts Report Reply

  • Island Life: Mother, We've Been Goosed,

    What Tom said. And yes, the Allianz design does rule, but why haven`t we seen an image from street level, how a pedestrian would experience it?

    The Allianz glows red when Bayern Munchen is playing, blue when Munchen 1860 plays, and white for Deutschland.

    Now, how could a stadium glow black....?

    I am not an IP lawyer, but does the photoshopped use of the stadium transposed onto the Auckland waterfront come under fair use? My gut feel is no, would an expert be able to offer their opinion here?

    I agree with what Gordon Moller stated (and drew) in the Herald last week (why are the expertise of architects so rarely drawn upon in these debates in NZ?). I seriously doubt that design & construction could take place in 5 years given the difficulties of the waterfront location.

    Mount Albert. • Since Nov 2006 • 40 posts Report Reply

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