BOOK ONE Site Analysis: Past, Present, Foreboding Future
BOOK ONE Layout
“What do you think Mr Bay? These are a few stimulated ‘after’ photos following a successful surgery under the knife with our clinic.”
“You would be a spectacle to behold from the skyline.”
“An arresting view from the habour.”
“And not to mention, very, very popular to the humans and their *cough cough* money...”
“I think you know the answer then.”
*Mr Bay takes his jacket and slinks out of the room with a proud smile on his face: oh how good he would look in just a few years time...*
ANTHOLOGY 03 The Foreboding
BOOK ONE The Foreboding Future
ANTHOLOGY 01 The Present
BOOK ONE The Present
2.0 Warehouse Land
5.0 Bird’s Eye
6.0Media
1.1Elevator People 1.2Toilet Tally and Teenage Couple 1.3Density in the Foodcour t
4.0The Bridge
3.0Queen Elizabeth II Square 0.1The Entr yway 0.2The Reader 0.3The Seats of Rest
CONTENT The Present
BOOK ONE The Present
The Reader In a sliver of a slot in the mall complex building, a mature lady, probably into her late sixties, was reading a book. Alone she was, yet entirely content, with the ends of her mouth curving up as her eyes devoured the pages in front of her. Seats of Rest
1150am
0.0 Ground Floor
BOOK ONE The Present
The Entr yway
15 Minute Density in the Foodcour t
1230pm
Density of longer than 30 seconds Movement of people through the space Obser ver’s position for 15 minutes
Elevator People Two seats facing each other in parallel. Two women gossiping. Their curved backs exhibiting their fatigue from the day. “Is his name Shawn?” “Yeah, the guy from Christchurch.” Passing the time as people walk in and out of the elevator at the end of the short corridor. “How much longer?” “One minute.” And the flow of people coming in and out of the elevator pulsates the time by until... “Finally!” “Did you get anything?” The pair are joined by a lady with a pram and a middle aged couple. They leave altogether, adding to the flow of elevator people.
Women’s Bathroom Tally in 5 minutes
1210pm 1205pm
1.0 Level One
BOOK ONE The Present
“Where are you going with all that gear?”
“Manukau.”
Teenage Couple with the Suitcases
Women’s Bathroom Tally in 5 minutes
1210pm
1.2 Level One
BOOK ONE The Present
The Girls from Last Night
An Old Man with a McD Sundae
“So? Did he text back?” A lazy shrug of the shoulders. The conversation had ended.
“...”
Two European Backpackers of the Male Gender “Schnell, schnell!” “Kommen...”
The Three School Girls with Low Str ung Backpacks “快一点!”
Another Old Man Eating Sushi “...” *the old man finished his six pack sushi, wiped his mouth and left*
The Cleaner *diligently picks up empty trays and rubbish*
A Man in a Black Suit *walking into the foodcourt, pausing, then walking away*
Density of longer than 30 seconds
The Three Children *munching on their happy meals with content silence between them*
An Old Couple *push a pram with their sleeping grandchild*
Movement of people through the space Obser ver’s position for 15 minutes
15 Minute Density in the Foodcour t A Mature Lady *slips off her ballet flats and crosses her feet under the table as she eats her meal*
1230pm
1.3 Level One
BOOK ONE The Present
The Young Lad *walks along with bare feet. stops at the foodcourt. walks away*
An Group of Adventure Clad Old People *with their backpacks up high on their backs and faces full of smiles, the group cheerfully head up to a table to put down their belonggings *
Bargin Hunters This is the Warehouse: “Where everyone gets a bargin.”
“Yeah, we are closing down soon so you are going to have to get your printing done elsewhere.” “F**k.”
Warehouse Land
1245pm
2.0 Level Two
BOOK ONE The Present
A Group of Tourists “Here?” “Slightly to the left! Perfect! Smile!” The shrills of the group were loud and cheerful. Had they not seen a rock in their lives?
The Solo Eater A sandwich in one hand a mobile phone on the other. This guy has multi-tasking down to the nines.
Young Children *scooping the dark grey pebbles with his miniscule hands* *hobbling around with bare feet, chasing a flock of pigeons and seagulls*
Benches
The Most Ef ficient Path of Movement 02
An Old Man *smoking a cigarette, coughing for a few seconds and contining to puff*
The Skyping Lady “Can you hear me?” A giant backpack rests beside the bench as its owner speaks into the air.
A Seeker *he cackles as he peeps his head into the metal rubbish bin. Nope. Nothing today. He cackles again as walks over to the next one*
Cigarette Benches
Pebble Pit
Rubbish Bins
Pigeons and Seagulls “The heck is this little human doing chasing us?” A Group of Tourists
Te Ahi K aa Roa
“Oh! Let’s take one here too! Get in everyone, get in!” Where will this photo go once they snap it on their digital device?
Keep the home fires bur ning and you will maintain the mana and the right to occupy this land. The keeprs of this flame? Ngati Whatua. For whom? Tamaki Makau Rau (Auckland). “It bur ns with literal fire from the base material of local basalt rock. The stone is of Papatuanuku, the Earth Mother and is enduring and immovable. The water represents life and the sea-bed taken from the Waitemata River in early Auckland reclamations. The sculpture represents Ngati Whatua as Tangata Whenua - People of the Land.” - Auckland City Council
The Giant Heel Skateboarder’s Benches
37.8m
The Most Ef ficient Path of Movement 01
50m
1890m²
0100pm
3.0 Queen Elizabeth II Square
BOOK ONE The Present
A Young Lady *lighting a thin durry between her long, lean fingers, her eyes almost crossing in concentration*
The Skater Boys There were three of them: the skater boys with their flat caps and baggy shorts. “Jump!” And the three jump over an empty slushie cup, one after the other. “Edge!” And the three skid by the solid benches with the bottom of their boards, one after the other. The first one nods and the three skate out of the square, one after the other.
The Resting Janitor With her cart parked beside her, the resting janiter slumps on the bench. She slips out a wrapped sandwich from her pocket and begins to munch. “Halfway through the day.” She thinks; her mouth maintaining a rhythmic beat.
The Solitude Seekers and Walker By-ers
A Tally of the Vehicles Driving Under neath
There is not much dialogue to be had on the bridge. The heat is sauna-tic and the sounds from the outside are muted. But you are given vision. Out of the artificial lights of the shopping complex, your eyes droop with heavy after noon slumber.
The Grandpa and his Grandson “No...” The old man shakes his head in reply to the young boys round eyes. “Nooo.” The young boy’s fingers are inches from the power socket when he pauses and looks back at his Grandfather tilting his head.
An Elegant Solo She takes out a pre-sliced apple from her handbag and pops it into her mouth. Her crunching is inaudible. Her eyes gaze out onto the flowing traffic: a flow that eventually traverses under neath her.
0125pm
4.0 The Bridge
BOOK ONE The Present
The Silent Man He has hairs on his head revealing a life long lived. A slightly oversized jumper cloaks his body and a felt hat sits at an angle on his aged head. It is a war m day and the bridge is even hotter. But the man doesn’t seem to mind. He is silent.
Upon a Seagull’s Back We Glide I have been around these parts of the bay for a long time now. Ask any seagull or pigeon in the area and I swear on my beak, they will refer you to me!
r t St re
St re
G al
en
5.0 Bird’s Eye
BOOK ONE The Present
r St re
et
Ty le
Q ue
Lo w
eet we Str
er Al be
er H ob Lo w
Fan sha
Q ua
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so n
St re
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Do I like being an Auckland seagull you ask? Yeah, I believe so. I haven’t travelled far past these shores to be able to compare to anywhere else but I am pretty chill. Apart from the occasional little human chasing us around, us city birds do fine scavenging off tipsy humans who stuff their faces in the shadows of the night. The sea is nice too and despite the stronger winds, I know I am better off than my cousins down in Wellington!
Cu st
om s
w ay
St re
St re
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et Ea st
y St re et
et Te Ara Tāhuhu Ah, there is the line ofTe Ara Tāhuhu. A line symbolising the ‘ridgepole’ of a marae. It leads to the central place of density for you human kind in the city. A place where loud machines come to a moment’s pause before spewing out or swallowing in another mob of humans.
PLAN CHANGE 79 SOLD TO PRECINCT PROPERTIES FOR $27.2 MILLION
May 17, 2014 at 11:38 am “What’s the hurry? An ‘in principle sale and THEN a set of proposals’ is an absolutely disastrous way to make decisions. It seems that we are being rushed into a decision that we will never be able to undo.I’m with Councillor Lee on this one.” - George D May 17, 2014 at 11:51 am What’s the hurry? Precinct want to develop their site and want to build the parts of the CRL tunnel under it at the same time (saving the council huge sums of money). They want to start next year. The whole area is going to be dug up for that development so there’s an opportunity to put it back better than it is now and so both the council and Precinct see the opportunity to make changes to the area at the same time. As I said in the post, I think this is a decent trade off. Also worth noting, the Precinct development is one that will be critical in delivering much needed office space if we are ever to have a chance of meeting the gover nments stupid employment target.”
COMPENSATION FOR CARPARKS
NZ Herald “Auckland Council may have to pay Precinct Properties $20 million compensation for the loss of underground car parking in its Downtown Shopping Centre redevelopment to make way for the city rail link, says a planner. The revelation comes as the council is today set to conclude the privatisation of Queen Elizabeth Square to Precinct Properties for a giant mall and skyscraper. The square is valued at about $60 million. The proceeds are ear marked for at least two of three improved waterfront spaces for ming part of an ambitious wishlist of 16 projects for the downtown area. - Ber nard Orsman
ArchitectureNow “How pedestrian, bus and general traffic conflicts in Lower Albert Street are to be resolved remains to be seen, and how Lower Queen Street might function without buses but with a proposed tram also remains to be seen. None of these plans has been made public. The responsible way forward now is a comprehensive plan for downtown, providing for public spaces, public transport services and Precinct Properties’ development proposals. Queen Elizabeth Square incrementalism doesn’t cut the mustard.” - Joel Cayford R adioNZ “... Auckland councillor Mike Lee has said the sale of Queen Elizabeth Square to a private company is not a decision made with public interest in mind. "This is a bad decision, not in the public interest, and this will be regretted for many decades to come, I can tell you that: the loss of that public open space, the enor mous building that it facilitates, the minimal financial benefit to the ratepayer…” Mr Lee said that though the developer has promised public space, it would have a different idea about what that actually looks like.”
- Matt L
ArchitectureNow “In June 1975, The Auckland Star published a series of articles as part of what it called an investigation into the success or failure of the Downtown scheme. Professor Kennedy, who had moved to Christchurch on his retirement in 1969, said that he was “grieved and disappointed” by what had arisen in his name and that short-ter m commercial interests had been the main factor in the development. The mayor (now Sir) Dove-Myer Robinson, back for a further ter m, after pointing out that he was out of office when major scheme decisions were made, said the Council “may have erred” in allowing the scheme to proceed as “it had lost contact with the waterfront of which it was intended to be an integral part and a link with the rest of the city” and that it was a “near disaster socially”.10 Comment from staff of the School of Town Planning was also reported, together with claims that wind speeds in parts of the square were double those in Queen Street.”
6.0 The Eyes of the Media
BOOK ONE The Present
Ocean Water
Timber /Wood
ANTHOLOGY 02 The Past
Basalt Rock In recent years my son has developed a new mantra: from ‘importing goods’ to ‘exporting ideas’. He has a focused belief that Auckland’s trade with the world is booming. But I worry for his generation sometimes. He socialises with many of the humans who have the same sort of mindset about economy and money. I just wish that he would put this much effort into connecting back to his roots: of the water, the land and air that built his foundations...
Soil /Earth
Waitemata and Gulf Ward
Waitemata
2010 It has been a while now since he has done those happy things. He has undergone many artificial changes over the years: infills and long wharfs seem to be the fashion to the young bays.
Despite his economic success, I was the most proud when he would host events for the public: passionate protests or even a simple space for people to have their lunch. 1996
My son has had many ocacasions for celebration: he has hosted the establishment of such business as coffee merchants, green grocers, import-export agents, buyers, sellers, and traders of all kinds. He was and still is the heart of this city’s economy.
This is a story about my youngest son. 1959 My three sons were ideal landing bays for the humans to set up their activities of trade. One by one my offspring were named: Official Bay, Mechanics Bay, and then there was my youngest son Commercial Bay. My youngest son was in charge of the landing, trade and exchange of goods: it was a role he was destined for; since being a young bay he was the deepest with the best anchorage for trading ships.
1940
1840 I was officially bor n in the year 1840. The chief of Ngāti Whātua-o-Ōrēke, by the name of Ahipahi Te Kawau, invited Gover nor Hobson to establish me as the new capital.
BOOK ONE The Past
BOOK ONE Fin