Opened this week with princely aplomb, the symbol of New Zealand’s self-sufficient justice system, ironically begins its life with Royal approval. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s a bit of an old chesnut but here we go again - lock ‘em up and throw away the keys.  This week it seems that Act and National are convinced that humanity can’t do what architecture is so good at - incarceration.  Their addition to the Sentencing and Parole Reform Bill, if enacted, will mean “no prospect of ever being freed for those convicted of murder or manslaughter.” Such thinking makes architecture the ultimate punishment. Read the rest of this entry »

“Naked streets” or “Naked roads” - some even call them (more tamely) “Shared Spaces” - have apparently been around since the 1980s.   Credited to Hans Monderman, the Naked street idea is based on a psychological approach which supports designing roads to reflect the different cognitive skills needed in different transport situations.  Shared suburban spaces are contrasted to motorways and argued to need specific skills for their complex human context.  This whole area of thinking has developed more formally into the field of “psychological” or “second generation traffic calming.” Read the rest of this entry »

Amid all of the hooha surrounding our Supreme Court - symbols of power, propaganda, and hair loss - we should take time out to step back and really consider the dome issue in a more holistic way. You see, as this remarkable little film sets out, there really are supernatural consequences of building domes, which have no doubt been taken into account by the architects of our esteemed Supreme Court (who are obviously well up on their freemasonry)… The result being, of course, to hide the dome away in the interior so as not to expose bystanders to the energy drawn therein.

The energy will, of course, be invoked by the highest powers of judiciary in this country when passing judgment and handing down sentence, and will no doubt contribute to the building’s green star rating…

You may want to look away if notions of anti-christ, other dimensions, ley lines (must check Wellington’s position wrt this), or the new world order offend thine eyes…

m-d

Read the rest of this entry »