Category: Comment

  • Chris Laidlaw response to our letter re: the trolley buses

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    On 13 February we wrote to the Sustainable Transport Committee restating our concern regarding the GWRC decision to replace trolley buses with diesel-hybrid buses.  Our letter can be found here. Below is Chris Laidlaw’s response …

  • My favourite modernist building … The Barbican

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    Naming a favourite building is always a tricky question to answer,

  • Boundary issues

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    I was watching crits at VUW last week, and the issue of fences arose in a discussion about one masters’ student’s proposed alternative to stadium design.

  • Stirling effort

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    Moving on – and returning to the eternal debate about: What makes a Good Building? In the UK, every year for the last decade or two they have a prize for the best building completed by a British Architect. It is hosted by the RIBA – and while in the past it has been accompanied…

  • Bucharest flyover impacts on town

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    *Guest Post by Bill Toomath, one of our well-respected architect members of the Architectural Centre To gain a virtually realistic experience of what it would feel like to be alongside and under the proposed NZTA flyover at the Basin Reserve one can easily beam down on Google to a similar project at Bucharest in Romania.…

  • Undercroft

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    Debates about the Flyover proposed for Wellington still ringing in our ears (the Basin Bridge Board of Enquiry is ongoing as we speak), it seemed like an appropriate time to examine what the underside of a Flyover actually looks like. The answer seems to be: often Not Very Pretty. Keeping in mind that this is…

  • Acoustic barriers

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    On a recent trip to Europe, I traveled to some interesting places, mostly by train, but sometimes by plane or bus. Sometimes there were great views out the window. At other times, there were acoustic barriers. On another trip to Hong Kong, I traveled by metro, by bus, and by car – and in all…

  • Underpass update

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    NZTA continues digging the underpass tunnel below the future Memorial Park: pictures enclosed. The route through is now almost complete from end to end, open for the first time ever, direct from Taranaki St right through to the Basin. It is a busy worksite, clogged full of diggers, excavators, soil-nailers, trucks, and still: an awful…

  • Public Trust building

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    There are many buildings that the Architectural Centre has championed the cause of over the years, but for me there are two that stand out from the rest. They are Old St Paul’s Cathedral in Thorndon, and the Public Trust building in Lambton Quay. Coincidentally, recently I went to Old St Paul’s for the funeral…

  • Holy Trinity

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    At last the Anglican church in Christchurch appears to be speaking the same language as the people. Finally, two years after the earthquakes, the Bishop Victoria Matthews has decided to approach the question of a replacement cathedral in a manner that does, to some extent, involve the People. A choice range of three possible options…