Our loss-making public bus system, as for the colours *spew

Inner city Dunedin is NOT a freaking circus or Disneyland.
Obviously, the bozos at ORC/DCC think differently.

Here is something CHEAP-NASTY-like:

Troughing consultants, transportation planners and those who purport to be ‘urban design’ from both councils appear to be barely out of grade school —my god, it shows (see video).

PRIMARY SCHOOL
Colouring in, by non-learned non-contextualists —who manage do it so very BADLY. This is absolute proof that Landscape Architecture at Dunedin is DEAD, BANKRUPT and bloody SMELLY. My cardboard box of pet maggots could design “the interchange” better. They could: swiftly, cleanly, without the disease that is ‘the carnival-scathed’ at local government.

Junior short-term work experience only, no proven local body management expertise or ‘factory floor’ experience whatsoever, now make for ‘team leader’ placements at Dunedin. That’s how tragic the workpool is. Low shoulder-tapping at the tertiary institution is no substitute for a smart council workforce, not that we have a hope in hell of attracting one.

Business leaders need to Take Dunedin!
By Storm, from the doughbrains at local government.
But Business leaders, Entrepreneurs and Investors now have the Largest, most IMMENSE PROBLEM.

At this un-populous sinking town :
At the productive, growth-generating Central Otago and Queenstown Lakes :
THERE IS NO AFFORDABLY SAFE AND SECURE POWER SUPPLY
None! This is All down to leaders, councillors, directors and executives at DCC, DCHL, Delta and Aurora.

And ORC/DCC think the sorry ratepayers and residents can afford an improved, convenient and efficient bus system. Ho. Ho. Ho.

—

Apart from or because of the buses making losses….

Clearly, the proposed changes to the bus system are NOT designed to embrace the Accessible Journey —to enhance the experience of city travel for mobility impaired citizens.

The Regional Public Transport Plan 2014 and the Dunedin City Integrated Transport Strategy 2013 DO NOT anticipate the growth of Uber, new technology or ‘other’ vehicular modes of travel, or indeed anything that is the future of transport at (Our Place) Dunedin.

The proposed changes are NOT subject to ANY ECONOMIC STUDIES to safeguard businesses, vehicle users, and the users of public transport, city-wide. None! So Predictable. So Deficient. So Grossly Negligent.

Coloured road markings, a Fun Distraction when there’s a MASSIVE POWER BLACKOUT at Dunedin.

*Note: DCC does not have a spare ONE BILLION DOLLARS in the bank to right Aurora/Delta’s wrongs.

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The Otago Regional Council says:

Dunedin Bus Interchange (hub)
Dunedin’s public transport is changing. Since the adoption of the Regional Public Transport Plan (RPTP) in 2014, Otago Regional Council (ORC) has been rolling out network wide changes to create an affordable and connected public transport system in Dunedin. While many of these changes focus on implementing direct and stable bus routes with regular frequencies, we are also looking to improve the accessibility of the bus services, information, and infrastructure. As part of these changes we are providing a bus interchange (hub) in the city centre to make your bus journey better.

█ To find out more and how to make submissions, go to http://www.orc.govt.nz/Information-and-Services/Buses/Bushub/

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There are several things the ORC can do immediately to signal its serious intent in improving services to its ratepayers. (ODT)

### ODT Online Wed, 7 Dec 2016
Editorial: Bus hub challenges
OPINION Public transport is essential in any major centre and now Dunedin faces its own challenges with the release of the long-awaited central-city bus hub plans. The Otago Regional Council is seeking community feedback on the hub planned for Great King St, near the central police station. It includes five parking bays on each side of the street. […] The idea of a Great King St hub cannot be taken seriously if people are going to be forced off one bus and on to another in quick time. […] Dunedin’s central area is the Octagon and the regional council needs to recognise the need to keep buses flowing through the Octagon.
Read more

****

Bus hub part of $3million transport project, including “super stops”. 38 car parks lost from Great King St between Moray Pl and St Andrew St.

### ODT Online Mon, 5 Dec 2016
Dunedin bus hub details released
By John Gibb
The Otago Regional Council has unveiled its long-awaited central Dunedin bus hub plans and is seeking community feedback. The bus hub, also termed the “bus interchange”, is, as previously signalled, in Great King St, near the central police station. It includes five parking bays on each side of the street. […] The size and style of bus shelters are partly dependent on public feedback, and also on any negotiations required with owners of nearby land, to be undertaken early next year. It is also proposed to use paints or other coloured materials, including on part of the street, to give the hub area a more lively appearance.
Read more

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

This post is offered in the public interest.

Dezeen: W57 —West 57th Residential Building by BIG

Durst Fetner Residential commissioned Copenhagen based BIG in the spring of 2010 to introduce a new residential typology to Manhattan.

sltube7 Uploaded on Feb 10, 2011
Jacob Slevin Bjarke Ingels Is BIG in New York City with W57
(by Designer Pages)

GlessnerGroup Uploaded on Feb 15, 2011
W57 – West 57th Residential Building [no audio]
W57 is a hybrid between the European perimeter block and a traditional Manhattan high-rise, West 57th has a unique shape which combines the advantages of both: the compactness and efficiency of a courtyard building providing density, a sense of intimacy and security, with the airiness and the expansive views of a skyscraper.
©Glessner Group, Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG)

Construction is due for completion in 2016.

█ Architect: Bjarke Ingels Group

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### dezeen.com Tue, 8 Feb 2011 at 12:41 pm
West 57th by BIG
By Catherine Warmann
Durst Fetner Residential (DFR) today announced the design of West 57, a 600-unit 80/20 residential building on West 57th Street between 11th and 12th Avenues. The building is designed by renowned Danish Architect firm BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group and is their inaugural North American project. The building’s program consists of over 600 residential units of different scales situated on a podium with a cultural and commercial program. The building will strive for LEED Gold Certification.

“It’s extraordinarily exciting to build a building whose architecture will attract visitors from around the globe,” said Hal Fetner, CEO of Durst Fetner Residential. “BIG’s design is innovative, evocative and unique and the building’s beauty is matched only by its efficient and functional design that preserves existing view corridors while maximizing the new building’s access to natural light and views of the Hudson River. West 57th will establish a new standard for architectural excellence and its creative design, sustainable-construction and operations, breathtaking views and distinctive amenities will make it New York’s most sought after residential address.”

“New York is rapidly becoming an increasingly green and livable city. The transformation of the Hudson River waterfront and the Highline into green parks, the ongoing effort to plant a million trees, the pedestrianisation of Broadway and the creation of more miles of bicycle lanes than the entire city of my native Copenhagen are all evidence of urban oases appearing all over the city. With West 57th we attempt to continue this transformation into the heart of the city fabric – into the centre of a city block,” Bjarke Ingels, Founder, BIG.

“The building is conceived as a cross breed between the Copenhagen courtyard and the New York skyscraper. The communal intimacy of the central urban oasis meets the efficiency, density and panoramic views of the tall tower in a new hybrid typology. The courtyard is to architecture what Central Park is to urbanism: a giant green garden surrounded by a dense wall of spaces for living.”
Read more + Images

[view full screen]

BIG from DRKHRSE (posted 4 months ago)
An aerial view of Bjarke Ingel’s newest building in NYC, at W57

█ Drone Photography: Darkhorse

### dezeen.com Wed, 16 Sept 2015 at 11:10 am
Drone video shows progress on New York “courtscraper” by BIG
By Jenna McKnight
Communications firm Darkhorse has used a camera mounted to a drone to capture footage of Via 57 West, the residential building by Bjarke Ingels Group that is now rising in New York. Construction is underway on the tetrahedron-shaped building, which is located on West 57th Street in Midtown Manhattan. The design is pulled up at one corner, to create a 467-foot-tall (142-metre) structure. It topped out several months ago, with the addition of the final structural beam, and work is now continuing on the building’s facades. The unofficial movie by Darkhorse shows images of Via’s sloped exterior, which is punctuated with south-facing terraces that look toward the Hudson River.

Encompassing 861,00 square feet (80,000 square metres), the building will contain 709 residential units and a large central courtyard. The project also calls for retail space totalling 45,000 square feet (4,180 square metres).

“We call it a courtscraper,” Ingels told Dezeen in an interview last year. “It’s a combination of a skyscraper and a courtyard building. One side is the height of a handrail and the other side is the height of a high-rise.”

The project is being constructed in an area with a mix of building types. W57 is sandwiched between a power plant, a sanitation garage and a highway. The building’s amenities will include a pool, fitness centre, basketball court, golf simulator, library and screening room. Residents will also be able to reserve “living rooms” for entertaining that feature fireplaces, chef’s kitchens, dining rooms and large terraces.
Read more + Images

█ Other residential projects now underway in New York include 152 Elizabeth Street by Tadao Ando in the Nolita neighbourhood, 520 West 28th Street by Zaha Hadid near the High Line, and a luxury condo building by Alvaro Siza that is slated to rise near BIG’s Via 57 West.

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Te Ara I Whiti – light path #sharedway Auckland

Elevated illuminated space is exciting but how long until the shine wears off – this bad taste won’t even make it to Kitsch.

“This is a great day for Auckland’s inner city cycling network. The cycleway is a new and exciting urban space, creating a city centre where people feel safer and confident to ride a bike.” –Minister Simon Bridges

Comment #13 by David Bridewell  (2 days ago)
I think the cycle – and I trust walkway – is a good idea. But whoever chose that vile colour should be hauled into the centre of Aotea square and mercilessly flogged.

### nbr.co.nz Thu, 3 Dec 2015
‘Magenta Adventure’ cycleway opens in Auckland
By Emerson Howitt
Auckland cyclists are in the pink with today’s launch of the city’s latest piece of cycle-friendly infrastructure. The $18 million magenta coloured Light Path cycleway – already dubbed “Magenta Adventure” – was opened with a ribbon cutting ceremony presided by Transport Minister Simon Bridges, followed by schoolchildren cycling along the re-vamped Nelson St motorway off-ramp. […] The off-ramp was closed in 2005 after an upgrade to the central motorway junction left it surplus to requirements. […] The Light Path features interactive lighting along one side that will illuminate the structure at night.
Read more + 34 comments

iion Published on Dec 3, 2015
Te Ara I Whiti – The Light Path #LightPathAKL
@BikeAKL celebrated the opening of #LightPathAKL with hundreds of cyclists taking to the newly opened cycleway. We went along to see their reactions and join in the festivities. Interactive Light Installation by iion http://iion.co.nz

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Light Path Canada St Bridge [Patrick Reynolds]

### transportblog.co.nz Thu, 3 Dec 2015
Te Ara I Whiti – the lightpath
By Matt L
Auckland’s newest and certainly it’s most colourful cycleway (so far) was officially opened today by Transport Minister Simon Bridges. And I must say, Simon gave a fantastic speech showing he gets it, talking up the environmental, health, congestion and economic benefits of investing in cycling – this view was reinforced in discussion with him later. […] The new bridge connecting Canada St to the old offramp has been given the name of Te Ara I Whiti or the lightpath and combined is a fantastic addition to Auckland. […] One of the most surprising things about the project is just how little time it has taken from inception to delivery.
Read more

█ Video via TVNZ On Demand
Better Together: The Nelson Street Cycleway (4:51)
Get the inside track on the merging of the creative ideas of carver Katz Maihi and landscape architects and urban designers Monk Mackenzie + Land Lab, that have helped shape Auckland’s ambitious new cycleway design.
Link: https://www.tvnz.co.nz/content/tvnz/ondemand/shows/m/microsoft-better-together/s1/e3.html

[screenshots]

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### NZ Herald Online 2:14 PM Saturday Dec 5, 2015
Pedal to the new metal
By Catherine Smith
I don’t usually claim to have much in common with engineers – putting things together is not my strong suit. But on Tuesday, when I donned a fluoro vest and rode the newest piece of Auckland’s cycling infrastructure with project manager Stephen Cummins of GHD, I couldn’t get enough of the geeky details of the shared pathway, formerly known as the old Nelson St off-ramp.

It is barely a year since the Lightpath Te Ara I Whiti (it got a fancy pants name at Thursday’s opening), first got the nod. New York’s glamour former tsar of transportation, Janette Sadik-Khan, was in town to talk up how she transformed the Big Apple’s car-clogged streets to plazas given over to people and bikes. She was less than flattering about Auckland’s un-connected bits of cycle paths. The “three Ls” who shape Auckland – mayor Len Brown, design head Ludo Campbell-Reid and chair of Auckland Transport Lester Levy – keen to impress Sadik-Khan, fell over themselves to promise Barbara Cuthbert of Bike Auckland in front of an audience of over 1500 city-lovers that they would convert the abandoned motorway into a connector between the aging Northwestern cycleway, the new Grafton Gully path and the rest of the city.

The result is extraordinary. This bridge, complete with art works of pulsing lights, pohutukawa trees and a stunning perspective of the city’s favourite bits is no dull bit of infrastructure. Cummins, possibly punch-drunk from lack of sleep, reckons that a project of this complexity would typically take a minimum of two years, but every one of the suppliers was so excited by this build that they pulled out all the stops to whittle that time to eight months. Despite reporting to many “parents” (this is an NZ Transport Agency project as the stretch of road is part of the national motorway), the design team was tight and fast-moving: GHD was lead designer, with architects Monk Mackenzie and engineers from the Agency.

Early thoughts were to plunk something clunky and temporary between the back of K Rd and the old off-ramp. Fortunately, saner heads (and money from minister Simon Bridges’ urban cycleways programme) funded a much better option. Already it’s been named in the World Architectural Festival, design mags are raving.
Read more

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

blue green [transportblog.co.nz]

*Images: (top of page) transportblog.co.nz – cyclists by Patrick Reynolds, pictured at right; aucklandcouncil.govt.nz – Light Path soaring-cycling-sensation

Dunedin Rotary Club | West Harbour Recreation Trail

Link and information supplied by Douglas (Mick) Field.

█ Message: I have been involved with Rotary doing the West Harbour Recreation project. I did a video of this as a means of describing the project – it sets out the scope of the work. I had a chat to Darrel Robinson who is in charge of the project for Rotary. He is happy for me to put it on YouTube which I will be doing shortly. Take a look.
Cheers, Mick

Douglas Field Published on Aug 4, 2015
West Harbour Recreation Trail 29 10 14
The West Harbour Recreation Project has been taken up by Rotary to provide and improve recreational activity as well as enhance the landscape along the shared pathway from the Boat Harbour to Maia. Already a lot of work has been completed. At present Rotary is completing the section at Ravensbourne Station and it is anticipated that the major recreational facility just north of the Boat Harbour will begin this year. Working ‘Bees’ are held once a month in conjunction with Dunedin’s Task Force Green team who do a great job in support and keeping the momentum up.
This clip outlines the scope and nature of the project.

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█ Message: As a matter of interest, the seat installed at the end of the clip is in memory of Robin Archer, ex city councillor – donated by his widow. Robin was chief architect for the Otago Education Board before it was decommissioned.

Douglas Field Published on Aug 6, 2015
Ravensbourne Station BBQ site 23 5 15
The Dunedin Rotary Club has a working ‘bee’ every month on the West Harbour Recreation Trail Project. This one was in May when they installed BBQ equipment at the Ravensbourne Station site. As you can see these people work very hard and – fast. As always, they were ably assisted by Task Force Green workers.

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Michael Vidalis | aSocial Architects

via Academia.edu

Social Spaces by aSocial Architects?
Deciphering the Proliferation of Contemporary Heterotopias
By Michael A Vidalis
Registered Architect, MArch – Athens, Greece
PhD Candidate in Urban Sociology

Kitagata Housing project, SANAA Architects. More at Google Images

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We are in a new era, setting forth another perception of urban space: A totally subjective, idiosyncratic view of space.

It is supported that architecture in synergy with sociology could produce “better” architecture. Architecture that is socially functional will have an added value. Thus, a new level of meaning can be added to architecture, enhancing the quality of reading of the urban space. Additionally, a holistic and continuous dialectic juxtaposition of all perspectives (absolute, relative and relational space), produces meaning in regards to the space and its transformations.

Vasilis Avdikos (2010) notes that “The view that space has also a relational dimension, fills that void, establishing the human is, as an equal part of a relation. A dialectical relation between the structures/infrastructures and superstructures of a society, between its signifier and the signified. The relational view of space cannot function independently of its absolute and relative view. Only a holistic and continuous dialectic juxtaposition of all these perspectives, produces meaning in regards to the space and its transformations”.[1] Defining superstructures as the meanings, ideology, logic, culture, feelings, consciousnesses, values, traditions and memories, that arise as a result of the operation and use of the structures (market, laws, justice, political parties, school, etc.) and infrastructures (the “built” or man-made environment: buildings, squares, streets, technology and the like). In short, as Avdikos observes, the superstructures operate like a mirror image or reflection of the absolute and relative space, within which specific spatial frames are formed.[2]

In 1999 I was invited to present a paper in a conference; In “Towards a Social Architecture”, I supported the view that we must comprehend and address the social aspects and priorities of architecture. A short time thereafter, a journalist visited my office, surprised for the ideas presented. I replied laconically that it is surreal to think otherwise, regardless if the architectural community in the western world had abandoned the idea of a socially responsible architecture a few decades ago.[3]

It is reminded that the new architecture of the Modern Movement promised to promote or foster social change, in order to alleviate the misery of the working class in the industrial city; or, to at least ameliorate the quality of their lives. Initially the Modernists had the best of intentions for a socially responsible architecture, although they failed as their plans often contravened reality.

Nathan Glazer observed that architects did a 180 degree turn and renounced the social ideals of the Modern Movement, disillusioned with the failure of the Pruitt-Igoe housing project and similar projects. Realizing that they were incapable of addressing social problems, they abandoned the initial enthusiasm of a social agenda and decided to focus on what they undoubtedly knew best: Design. To be specific, design as a solely artistic form.

The demolition of Pruitt-Igoe (1976) would essentially mark the beginning of a new era, setting forth a different perception of space for architects: A totally subjective, idiosyncratic view of space. Sociologist Robert Gutman often noted that humans and their needs are not within the main interests of architects. In short, architects no longer concern themselves with what sociologists or social scientists have to say.

As a result, today’s spaces designed by starchitects, imbued with elements of sensationalism, surprise or disorientation, with an emphasis on escaping reality through heterotopias (Michel Foucault, 1967), etc., should come of no surprise. For architectural space produced today has as its point of departure the aforementioned negation of the social agenda; in this light, today’s architecture appears entirely logical as faithful to the new creed. Space, especially urban space, where most of humanity now resides and communicates, has become idiosyncratic, becoming a monument to its designer.

To prevent any misunderstandings, this is not to negate the entirety of contemporary architecture or imply an inferiority of the new aesthetics; but to suggest that architecture in synergy with sociology could produce better architecture. Architecture that is socially functional will have an added value. Thus, a new level of meaning can be added to architecture, enhancing the quality of reading of the urban space. For the social dimension will not limit or harm the architectural aesthetics, as some practitioners may fear. On the contrary, a holistic perspective will redefine space and its associated aesthetics, as the absolute, relative and relational readings will coexist.

As architecture is undisputedly considered an art form, the definition of art surfaces, reminding us of the feelings evoked upon reading or viewing a subjective creative work. When the social parameter is absent or suppressed, as is often the case today, the feelings produced will most likely be negative or indifferent at best. Therefore, it should be of no surprise that society often perceives architects as non-practical people, relative to the use of space by humans, i.e., in reference to the social dimension.

As a consequence of the above limited standpoint, we are often hearing architects talk amongst themselves, getting the impression that they view their profession solely as the practice of whimsical art that earns them monies; regardless of the rhetoric. A rather cynical view, by a profession that designs human space, because this is what architecture essentially does…

I don’t think that architecture is about solving human problems at all. Psychologists solve human problems, sociologists solve human problems, economists solve human problems. We’re none of those things. We do culturally necessary projects to me, which have a value for the culture in general. What should the architect do in society? I don’t think the architect should do anything, frankly. Peter Eisenman [4]

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FOOTNOTES
[1] Vasilis Avdikos, “Space as relation: Methodological approaches and research framework”, Geographies, v. 17, 2010, p45 (Hellenic journal).
[2] Ibid. p42.
[3] Interview to Aris Karer. The paper was published in its entirety in Express, April 1999, Health section, p17. The title given was “Residences for … humans” (Hellenic economic newspaper).
[4] David Basulto – ArchDaily. Interview in 2011 in: http://www.greekarchitects.gr/tv.php?category=291&video=475#first_division (January 9, 2015).

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Frampton, Kenneth. Modern Architecture: A Critical History. London: Thames & Hudson, 1992.
Hayden, Dolores. The Power of Place. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The M.I.T. Press, 1998.
Harvey, David. Social justice and the city. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1973.
Lefebvre, Henri. The Production of Space. Translated by Donald Nicholson-Smith. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers Ltd., 1991.
Massey, Doreen. Space, Place, and Gender. Minnesota: University of Minnesota Press, 1994.
Sassen, Saskia. The global city: New York, London, Tokyo. 3rd ed. Princeton: Princeton: University Press, 2001.
Soja, Edward. Postmodern Geographies: The Reassertion of Space in Critical Social Theory. London: Verso, 1989.

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█ SANAA (Sejima and Nishizawa and Associates) is a multiple award-winning architectural firm based in Tokyo, Japan. It was founded in 1995 by two Japanese architects Kazuyo Sejima (妹島 和世 1956-) and Ryue Nishizawa (西沢立衛 1966-). In 2010, Sejima and Nishizawa were awarded the Pritzker Prize. Examples of their work include the Toledo Museum of Art’s Glass Pavilion in Toledo, Ohio; the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York, NY; the Rolex Learning Center at EPFL in Lausanne; the Serpentine Pavilion in London; the Christian Dior Building in Omotesando in Tokyo; the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art in Kanazawa; and the Louvre-Lens Museum in France. Read more

█ Kitagata Housing project, SANAA Architects
The apartment building is part of a large scale public housing reconstruction project located about 15 minutes from Gifu City by car. Four women architects were selected under the coordination of Japanese architect Arata Isozaki to execute the projects. This L-shaped Wing designed by architect Kazuyo Sejima sits on the south-east part of the site where the idea for the overall layout of the development was to run the buildings around the perimeter. Sejima: “Given that this building is made up of rental apartments, it could be assumed that various types of families would live in those units. In other words, we imagined that forms of co-habitation would not be restricted to the existing standard family, but that different types of groupings of people should be considered…”
In the project master plan, the courtyard lies between the four separate housing blocks designed by Akiko Takahashi, Kazuyo Sejima, Christine Hawley, and Elizabeth Diller. Because of the diversity of architectural design found within the project, strong site imagery and geometry have been created for the courtyard to unify the distinct parts of the project and to give the project a memorable identity. See more at http://gifuprefecture.blogspot.co.nz/

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

*Images: Kitagata Housing project, Gifu City, Japan – (top) Wikimedia Commons: Raphael Azevedo Franca; (bottom) via gifuprefecture.blogspot.co.nz

University of Otago landscaping

[NOT about Hyde street Keg Party and damage to an emergency response vehicle – the timing of this facelift announcement isn’t subtle]

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UNI NEWS via Otago Bulletin
Major landscaping project will enhance the Dunedin campus

Friday, 27 March 2015

Landscaping plans include “town square” outside Staff Club

From early April, university staff will start to see works underway as part of a landscaping project to give the grounds of the Dunedin campus a major facelift. But the benefits are promising to be very much worthwhile for both staff and students alike, with new paving, outdoor seats, trees, LED lighting, signage and improved shelter within a large area located between the northern end of the Richardson Building, and the intersection of Castle and Dundas Streets.

Vice-Chancellor Professor Harlene Hayne says the intention is to vastly improve access to known sunny, sheltered sitting areas for staff, students and visitors; to replace paving that has come to the end of its life with safer materials; and to create new outdoor sitting, walking and recreational areas to improve the visual linking between spaces on the campus.

The area outside the St David Café is the first in line for a facelift. The project will be underway from early next month, beginning with work on the St David Café courtyard.

The overall project is to include the replacement of old drainage with new drains in parts of the central campus, on behalf of the Dunedin City Council. Also, major works completed last year when the West bank of the Leith outside the Clocktower was lowered for flood protection purposes had resulted in a substantial visual change requiring further improvements.

Professor Hayne believes the enhancements are necessary and important, and they will further benefit what is already a stunning campus environment.

“We want to both maintain and enhance our well-known advantage as one of the world’s most beautiful campuses in which to work and study.”

“We want to both maintain and enhance our well-known advantage as one of the world’s most beautiful campuses in which to work and study. This is an exciting and innovative project that further capitalises on the potential here for greater outdoor utilisation of our beautiful, green areas, and spaces such as the north end of the Richardson building, where people have traditionally liked to sit because it is so sheltered and sunny. We will be using quality materials, timbers, and real blue-stone that blends in with our heritage buildings. We want this development to stand the test of time.”

Professor Hayne is mindful that this is a major task, and that there will be disruption to staff and students as work progresses. Information signs will be erected, and work will progress with as few interruptions and as little noise as possible. The University aims to have the project completed by the end of January 2016. Staff and students will receive regular updates as work patterns change via the Bulletin Board.

Highlights of the landscaping project include:

• The creation of an enclosed courtyard allowing for a more well-defined and better sheltered seating area outside St David café, with low bluestone walls.

• A new paved ‘town square’ outside the Staff Club in the area known as the Castle Walk. This will involve the relocation of some memorial trees, and the removal of others that arborists have said have come to the end of their natural life. An artwork (to be commissioned) will feature in the middle of this new square, as well as seating.

• A new entranceway and Oamaru stone University sign at the entrance to the University from Castle Street, near the Centre for Innovation, and also a new sign on top of blue-stone and caste iron fencing at the entrance to Castle Street from Dundas Street.

• Castle Street in the section housing Selwyn and the new University Childcare Centre, Te Pā, will be re-paved, with wider footpaths, and bike racks. The area will become more bike-friendly, with adjustments to parking spaces, and more trees. The street will be raised to be level with the footpath, with more trees added.

• The newly created concrete steps on the new embankment leading down to the Leith Stream opposite the Clocktower will have railings, and improved safety adjustments, while matured specimen trees will be added to increase shade and improve visual values.

• The tiled walkway over the Union St bridge will be re-paved in high-quality durable pavers, and there will be seismic strengthening underneath the bridge.

• Further extensive new landscaping with trees, seating and paving, as well as wider walkways and steps, will be installed in the area that runs east of the Union Street bridge, up past the Archway Lecture theatres, and around to the front of Allen Hall where Theatre Studies is housed.

• A community garden with fruit trees will be cultivated between the villas at the University end of Castle Street; and also rain gardens planted with native grasses added throughout the newly-developed area.

• In total, there will be about 15,000 square metres of paving replaced or re-laid.

• No changes are planned for the grass bank and historic mature trees directly in front of the Clocktower.

█ http://www.otago.ac.nz/otagobulletin/news/otago089520.html

More: The Campus Landscape

28.3.15 ODT: $8 million facelift for university
Next month, the University of Otago will embark on a 21-month multimillion-dollar landscaping project to transform Dunedin’s campus.

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Charles Jencks —extreme emotion and neutrality

►► Jencks excerpts [click to enlarge or ctrl +]

Ed Sheeran Published on Oct 7, 2014
Ed Sheeran – Thinking Out Loud [Official Video]
Here’s my official video for ‘Thinking Out Loud’, I learnt to dance! Taken from my album ‘x’, available to buy via iTunes here: http://smarturl.it/x-itunesdlx

TaylorSwiftVEVO Published on Nov 10, 2014
Taylor Swift – Blank Space
Watch Taylor’s new video for “Blank Space”. No animals, trees, automobiles or actors were harmed in the making of this video. Taylor’s new release 1989 is Available Now on iTunes http://www.smarturl.it/TS1989

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Coop Himmelb(l)au, Dalian Conference Center, China, 2008-12.
A continuously changing surface that rises and falls and bulges in the middle to include a theatre and opera house. Organised like block chords of music that open up and close, it is reminiscent of both Wagnerian chromaticism and the tonal melding of Philip Glass and John Adams.

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█ http://www.coop-himmelblau.at/architecture/projects/dalian-international-conference-center

Images: Coop Himmelb(l)au —Wolf D. Prix and Partner ZT GmbH

█ More at Google Images

█ Download: Charles Jencks – Architecture Becomes Music | The Architectural Review 6 May 2013 via academia.edu [research]

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Kimbell Art Museum Expansion (Piano Pavilion)

Kimbell Art Museum [indiaartndesign.com]

The Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, Texas
Museum of international art with collections ranging from antiquities to 20th century contemporary art — 3333 Camp Bowie Boulevard, Fort Worth, TX 76107, United States

The Renzo Piano Pavilion at Kimbell’s was in production for six years — Piano accepted the commission in 2007, groundbreaking occurred in 2010, and the Grand Opening took place on November 27, 2013.

“Close enough for a conversation, not too close and not too far away,” remarked architect Renzo Piano, when describing the distance from the Kimbell’s new Renzo Piano Pavilion to the Louis Kahn Building. Piano’s structure, made of glass, concrete, and wood and surrounded by elms and red oaks, stands as an expression of simplicity and lightness some 65 yards to the west of Kahn’s vaulted, luminous museum landmark of 1972.

Louis Kahn Building [texasmonthly.com]

Renzo Piano Kendall Heaton Associates section [archdaily.com]

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ArtandSeek Published on Sep 12, 2013
An Early Look At the Kimbell’s Piano Pavilion
Eric Lee, Director of the Kimbell Art Museum explains some of the design features of the new Piano Pavilion, and the excitement surrounding the building’s opening.

KimbellArt Published on Nov 26, 2013
Kahn : Piano – The Piano Pavilion at the Kimbell Art Museum

DESIGN
Piano’s low-slung, colonnaded pavilion with overhanging eaves graciously acknowledges Kahn’s museum building by way of its kindred height, emphasis on natural light, and use of concrete as a primary material. The positioning of the pavilion on the site focuses attention on the west facade of the Kahn Building, which Kahn considered to be the main entrance.
The pavilion is made up of two sections connected by a glass passageway. The front, or easternmost, section conveys an impression of weightlessness: a glass roof system seems to float high above wooden beams and concrete posts. Sleek, square concrete columns flank the central, recessed glass entrance and wrap around three sides of the building. The tripartite facade articulates the interior, with a spacious entrance lobby and large galleries to the north and south.
Tucked under a green roof, the Piano Pavilion’s western section contains a gallery for light-sensitive works of art, three education studios, a large library with reading areas, and an auditorium with superior acoustics for music. The latter, located below ground level, is a design centrepiece: its raked seating faces the stage and the dramatic backdrop of a light well animated by shifting patterns of natural light.
Read more at https://www.kimbellart.org/architecture/piano-pavilion

Renzo Piano Pavilion [hyperallergic.com and maxresdefault at youtube.com]

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These time-lapse construction videos are worth the effort — in most cases buildings under construction satisfy the aesthetic complexities of the brain and the body as witness, better than any finished object.

visualimmersion Published on Aug 8, 2012
Kimbell Art Museum Expansion (Piano Pavilion) Animation

KimbellArt Published on Nov 13, 2013
A Glimpse into the Renzo Piano Pavilion at the Kimbell Art Museum

KimbellArt Published on Oct 7, 2014
Completed time-lapse photography of the Renzo Piano Pavilion
Kimbell Art Museum July 2011–September 2013. EarthCam.
The green spaces and sustainable features of the new building construction site are emerging, including the placement of a sophisticated, layered roof-structure, the installation of geothermal wells, and the planting of trees and grass.

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KimbellArt Published on Sep 10, 2013
Renzo Piano’s Walls for the Kimbell Art Museum

KimbellArt Published on Oct 19, 2013
Renzo Piano’s Beams for the Kimbell Art Museum HD

KimbellArt Published on Oct 25, 2013
Renzo Piano’s Columns for the Kimbell Art Museum HD

KimbellArt Published on Oct 25, 2013
Renzo Piano’s Glass Roof for the Kimbell Art Museum HD

KimbellArt Published on Oct 25, 2013
Renzo Piano’s Landscape Roof for the Kimbell Art Museum HD

KimbellArt Published on Oct 25, 2013
Landscape at the Renzo Piano Pavilion HD

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Ian Athfield dies #architecture

Updated post Thu, 23 Jan 2014 at 5:28 p.m.
Public Memorial Service (1 February) details below.

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█ Sir Ian Charles Athfield KNZM (15 July 1940 – 16 January 2015) was a New Zealand architect. He was born in Christchurch and graduated from the University of Auckland in 1963 with a Diploma of Architecture. That same year he joined Structon Group Architects, and he became a partner in 1965. In 1968 he was a principal partner in setting up Athfield Architects with Ian Dickson and Graeme John Boucher (Manson). Link to profile

Sir Ian had recently been made a knight companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for his services to architecture. Photo: NZ Herald

Athfield made a knight (2014) | Wellingtonian Interview Q&A (2009)
Review of Athfield’s biography (2012)

Website: Athfield Architects | Google Images: Ian Athfield

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### stuff.co.nz Last updated 17:51, January 16 2015
The Dominion Post
Renowned architect Sir Ian Athfield dies, aged 74
By Simon Bradwell and Tom Hunt
Renowned Wellington-based architect Sir Ian Athfield has died. He was 74.
Athfield Architects associate Rachel Griffiths said Sir Ian died in Wellington Hospital early this morning surrounded by family. His death was the result of “unexpected complications” during a procedure to treat his colon cancer.
“Ath had been dealing with cancer for some time with his usual stoicism and inappropriate humour,” Griffiths said. “There is … no-one else like Ath and we are devastated by his passing.” The Athfield family had asked for time to deal with their grief, she said. No date had been set for the funeral or memorial service at this stage.

A statement released this morning by the New Zealand Institute of Architects announced his death. “It is with great sadness that we inform Members that Sir Ian Athfield, one of New Zealand’s finest architects, has passed away in Wellington,” it said. “Our deepest condolences go out to Ath’s family, friends and colleagues. There are few details to share at this stage, but we will notify members of any funeral or memorial service arrangements as soon as they arise.”

Athfield, who was knighted in the most recent New Year Honours for his work in architecture, won more than 60 awards for his work. In a professional career spanning half a century, his stamp was imprinted across Wellington, and with Roger Walker, he was probably New Zealand’s leading exponent of modernist architecture. His most well-known works included the City Library and its nikau palm columns, built as part of the Civic Square redevelopment in the 1980s, and his own sprawling Khandallah house. He also designed Jade Stadium in Christchurch, which was damaged in the February 2011 earthquake.
Walker said he was “still in shock” on getting the news of Athfield’s death.
Read more

● 3 News: Kiwi architect Sir Ian Athfield dies [+ newsclip]
● New Zealand Herald: His designs offended and inspired: Architect Sir Ian Athfield dies [+ tweets with photos]
● ONE News: ‘Heavy hearts’ as renowned architect Sir Ian Athfield mourned
● Yahoo.com: ‘Rebellious’ architect Ian Athfield dies
● Wellington.scoop: Death of architect Ian Athfield
● NBR: Sir Ian Athfield, one of NZ’s most influential architects, has died

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ODT 20.1.15 (page 21)

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Death Notice – The Dominion Post [online]

█ Public Figure: Ian Athfield https://www.facebook.com/Ian-Athfield

Sir Ian Athfield – Public Memorial Service
The New Zealand Institute of Architects (NZIA) have organised a public memorial service to celebrate the life and work of Sir Ian Athfield, to be held at 3pm, Sunday 1 February, in Civic Square, Wellington.
Details of the service are yet to be finalised, but it is envisaged that it will include eulogies from people who knew Ath well. The service will very much be a memorial to Ath the Architect, and many Members will wish to attend. https://www.nzia.co.nz/

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archivesnz Published on May 5, 2013

Architect Athfield (1979)
New Zealand National Film Unit presents Architect Athfield (1979)
‘Architect Athfield’ examines the frustrations and achievements of one of New Zealand’s most lively and innovative architects. In 1975 Ian Athfield won an international competition directed towards providing housing for 140,000 squatters from the Tondo area in Manila. Ironically, Athfield had jumped to international prominence before any wide-ranging acceptance in his own country. This film examines Athfield’s practical philosophy of architecture, and culminates in his trip to the Philippines, where he hopes to make his prize-winning design a reality.

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wclchannel Uploaded on Nov 30, 2011
Ian Athfield – Central Library architect

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[YouTube] Julia Gatley’s interview with Sir Miles Warren and Ian Athfield on the 23rd of June 2012 at City Gallery Wellington.
Ian Athfield Interview 23 June 2012 Part 1 of 4 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

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Phil O’Brien Published on Apr 14, 2013
Ian Athfield at the 2009 Gold Awards

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Related Posts and Comments:
24.4.13 Ian Athfield at Dunedin | Open Lecture Friday 26 April
3.3.13 RNZ Sunday Morning | Ideas: Re-imagining the Urban House
9.11.12 New Zealand Urban Design Awards
25.6.12 New Zealand Architects: Pete Bossley, and Ian and Clare Athfield
7.12.11 Ian Athfield on post-earthquake Christchurch #eqnz
19.9.11 NZIA members on Christchurch City Plan
13.7.08 Some thoughts

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Samples from What if? Comments

### rnz.co.nz Sunday 11 August 2013
Arts on Sunday
1:43 New Arts Icon Ian Athfield
Ian Athfield on his new honour and he talks about this weekend’s forum on how architects and designers can help out following natural disasters.
Audio Ogg MP3 (6′59″)

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### ODT Online Sat, 27 Apr 2013
‘Look at heritage differently,’ Athfield says
By John Gibb
Leading New Zealand architect Ian Athfield yesterday praised Dunedin’s wealth of heritage buildings but urged a rethink of aspects of the city’s one-way-street system. Mr Athfield, of Wellington, was in the city yesterday to give the annual New Zealand Historic Places Trust R.A. Lawson Lecture, as part of the Dunedin Heritage Festival. Addressing about 200 people at the University of Otago’s St David lecture theatre, he said “we have to look at heritage differently”. One-way street systems, in Dunedin and elsewhere, could sometimes separate important heritage buildings from their communities, and could make it difficult for people to approach such buildings on foot because of traffic volumes. Mr Athfield […] urged people to take a more flexible and holistic approach to heritage, treasuring the wider context of historic buildings, including their landscape settings, rather than seeing them only in isolation.
Read more

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Photo: City Gallery Wellington

Aalto Books profiles Portrait of a House by Simon Devitt
Published by Balasoglou Books May 2013
Only 1,000 copies printed with 100 special edition copies that include one of five photographic prints. At 140 pages, a true collector’s item for those interested in New Zealand history, architecture, design and photography.
Portrait of a House is a photo book by photographer Simon Devitt in collaboration with graphic designer Arch MacDonnell (Inhouse Design). This is Devitt’s first foray in the photo book genre. His book explores the Athfield House – the ‘village on the hill’ – an architectural experiment that Ian Athfield started in 1965 on the Khandallah hillside in Wellington, and which he is still altering and extending today.
The house is renowned in bohemian and academic circles for its many colourful dinner parties and occasions, and is infamous with neighbours past and present for the antics of its free-range livestock and frequent run-ins with Council. Roosters have been shot, construction shut down and architectural pilgrimages made.
This is an extraordinary story told through Devitt’s sensitive eye, blended with historic photographs, paintings and drawings from the Athfield archive. Clare Athfield’s contribution of her own recipes (dating from the 1960s until now) complements a selection of personal letters by family, friends, colleagues and clients which are insightful and often very funny – memories that make Simon’s photographs all the more potent in their beauty and silence.
The idea for the book came from Devitt’s admiration of Robin Morrison’s work and in particular Morrison’s 1978 photo book Images of a House about a William Gummer-designed house built in 1916. “A house is a pretty refined subject to make a book about,” explains Devitt. “It is not market driven, it is content driven and born out of passion. Life has happened there like in no other house, and the ‘living’ leaves its evidence, time has played out on its surface. There is a lot to be said about sitting still and how that looks. The Athfield house is a wonderful example of this. An accessible counterpoint to a largely asset based living that pervades New Zealand.”

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### radionz.co.nz 3 March 2013
Radio New Zealand National
Sunday Morning with Chris Laidlaw
Listen on 101 FM or online at radionz.co.nz

10:06 Ideas: Re-imagining the Urban House
Arguments for intensifying the density of housing tend to fall into two categories: Affordability and putting a halt to urban sprawl.
Ideas talks to two architects who advocate higher density housing not just for those reasons but because they believe, if done right, it will result in more liveable houses and communities.

Robert Dalziel, the co-author of A House in the City: Home Truths in Urban Architecture, has travelled the world looking at traditional models of high density housing and come to some interesting conclusions; and Ian Athfield, one of New Zealand’s most celebrated architects, talks about the lessons he’s learnt from building his own house which now combines living quarters for 25 people with office space for another 40.
Audio Ogg Vorbis MP3 (49′59″)

“Get rid of those traffic engineers, which is another bloody thing, y’know, they’re singularly minded, quite stupid, y’know, they don’t think of anything else other than how long it takes to move a car from one space to another – that can’t happen in our cities in future.”

“The word “urban design” is now an abused profession – just like planning was in the sixties, y’know, and I said in the sixties if we knew as much about planning as we thought we knew about apartheid, we’d be demonstrating against planning, before we demonstrated against apartheid, because it is really really important. We had zoning at the time, absolutely ridiculous…”

Athfield House, Wellington. Photo: Grant Sheehan

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### stuff.co.nz Last updated 07:46 23/03/2011
Architect Athfield not softening
Source: The Press
Architect Ian Athfield is refusing to back down from his ultimatum about Christchurch’s development. Today he defended his comments, saying it was “absolutely the best time ever” to have the debate about how the city would look in the future. He was backed by former Christchurch Mayor Garry Moore who said the city now had a “clean slate” that presented opportunities like never before. NZPA
Read more + Comments

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### radionz.co.nz Monday, 07 March 2011 at 8:22
Morning Report with Geoff Robinson & Simon Mercep
Architectural ambassador joins rebuild debate
The rebuilding of Christchurch is clearly an emotive issue. Wellington architect Ian Athfield and Christchurch planning and resource management consultant Dean Crystal join us to discuss the rebuild debate.
Audio Ogg Vorbis MP3 (6′22″)

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Singapore National Stadium: No fuss ‘Olympian’ $1 billion plug-in

█ More views at Google Images
[search Singapore Sports Hub or Singapore National Stadium]

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Icon 137 Sport | November 2014 pp 068-075
International Design, Architecture & Culture

Open goal: Singapore National Stadium
By Owen Pritchard

Singapore’s new National Stadium has the world’s largest single-span dome. And by leaving it open at one end, its designers have given the multi-purpose pitch one of the most beautiful backdrops in sport.

Since 1965, the building that has the largest single-span dome in the world has always been a sports stadium. This year the National Stadium of Singapore claims that title, with a diameter of 312m and a height of 80m. The stadium is at the heart of the new Singapore Sports Hub, a 35ha redevelopment of a former airfield that will serve professional sportspeople and the general public alike. The development comprises the national stadium, Kenzo Tange’s 1989 Singapore Indoor Stadium (SIS), two sports arenas, an aquatics centre, a watersports centre, 41,000sq m of retail and waterfront, a visitor centre, sports library, museum and a rail station.

With an investment of over 1 billion US dollars from the Singapore government and the client who will run the facility, the development is an Olympian achievement without the fuss of having to host a sporting mega-event.

The arena offers a remarkable number of configurations in the seating arrangements, as well as cooling and the ability to open and close the roof, all of which make it suitable for a number of occasions – be it a football tournament, cricket match or national parade. “We were given the most amazing site you could be given on the waterfront in Singapore and an ambitious and visionary brief from the client,” says Clive Lewis, an associate at Arup Associates who led the design of the stadium and worked on the construction with Aecom and local firm DP Architects.

The Sports Hub was proposed in 2000, when the old Kallang stadium was declared unfit for purpose. The competition for the complex was launched in 2006. “The government wanted to know what the right thing for Singapore was,” says Lewis. “Did it want to spread out its sports facilities? Or put them all in one location?”

It is the dome that anchors the Sports Hub to its site. It has a powerful presence, particularly looking towards the end that opens out to the city when each side of the ETFE roof is clasped shut. “The location next to Tange’s indoor stadium was a key decision,” Lewis says. “We were creating a landmark building, it had to have a presence from the city, but respect the Tange building. I think that the inverted peak of the SIS and the dome sit perfectly together.” Lewis and his team have certainly taken the stadium’s neighbour into account: both buildings draw from a material palette that includes concrete, aluminium and tiered greenery around the plinth. But where Tange’s building is solid and mute, a passive and imposing presence on the skyline, the new stadium is inviting – from the tiered canvas canopies that cover the concourse to the vast opening that frames the city and the massive LED lighting system across the surface of the dome that lights up the sweltering skies at night. Covering some 20,000sq m, it is the largest addressable LED screen in the world. “We never set out to design such a massive dome,” reflects Lewis. “Once we had made the decision to do so, a lot of things began to make sense. We could really make the project work.”

[click to enlarge]

Inside the stadium, the structure that supports the external skin and the ETFE pillows that open and close to the heavens dominates. This structure is symmetrical and loops and crosses itself in a manner that conveys how the substantial loads are transferred to the two-storey plinth on which the stadium rests. “The delay in this project meant that we could refine the structure to make it as efficient as possible,” Lewis says. “We worked with about a 40 per cent penalty, so if you added ten kilos to the weight of the shell, you would have to increase the weight of the structure by 4 kilos. This led to the decision to use the pillows on the roof— not only would they filter the natural light, but they’re light and flexible, which helped optimise the structure of the trusses.” There are 20,000 steel members in the roof, and each truss that arks over the pitch tapers from 5m deep at its zenith to 2m at the point of contact with the plinth. “The opportunity with a dome this size is that it adds an intensity to the structure,” Lewis says. “It is a part of the event.”

The brief stipulated that the bowl within the stadium had to be movable and allow football, rugby and athletics to be played on the pitch. “We decided to add cricket into the mix,” Lewis says. “There are so many cricket-crazy nations within a four-hour flight we thought that it would provide an extra opportunity.”

[click to enlarge]

******

The Singapore Sports Hub is the next piece of the “plug in” approach to development in Singapore. Since the Jackson plan, conceived in 1822 when Stamford Raffles, the founder of Singapore, returned to the settlement and found himself displeased with the way the colony was developing, Singapore has tried to form a coherent urban strategy to manage growth. Currently the country has a population of just over 5 million, but wants grow to over 6 million. This 20 per cent swell will assure its economic position as the Switzerland of South-east Asia, but it is being managed to ensure the growth of other activities besides commerce. The development of Singapore has been more measured than, say, that of Dubai or Qatar; there is a quality to the developments that are being realised – including noticeably eye-catching contributions, such as Moshe Safdie’s Marina Bay Sands resort, OMA’s Interlace housing complex or Wilkinson Eyre’s park, Gardens by the Bay. The Singapore Sports Hub and the national stadium are an extension of this controlled, but still ostentatious, masterplan.

At the last Olympics, Singapore competed nine events, picking up two bronze medals for table tennis. The national football team is ranked 155th in the world, the rugby team 58th. So why build a state-of-the-art stadium in a country not known for its sporting prowess? The purpose, Lewis argues, is wider than that. “We have created the largest covered civic space in Singapore,” he says. The Sports Hub is intended to be a new piece of the city where the people can take part in sport themselves. Around the exterior of the bowl, still under the canopy of the dome, is a running track that will be open to the public, and the pools and courts will be available throughout the year, except when they are being used for competition. And that’s not to say that Singapore does not excel at hosting sporting events – the Formula 1 street race is one of the most popular meets on the calendar, and the nation has successfully held the Youth Olympics and will host the South-east Asian Games in 2015.

In his commentary for Hubert Aquin’s film Le sport et les hommes (1961), Roland Barthes said, “It must be remembered that everything happening to the player also happens to the spectator. But whereas in theatre the spectator is only a voyeur, in sport he is a participant, an actor.” Sport, for many, is an opportunity to indulge in a fanatical desire for victory fuelled by nonsensical, almost primal, allegiances. Stadiums are the ultimate container for outpourings of emotion, tempered (just) by the rules of the game being played in the centre of the bowl. The best national stadiums are steeped in history: they are the backdrops to events that embed the location in a collective consciousness. Events such as the Olympics and the football World Cup provide an opportunity for such moments, but Singapore is still waiting to host a mega-event of its own. For now, Arup Associate’s accomplished new stadium will have to wait.

██ Read full article at iconeye.com

[click to enlarge]

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Websites seriously worth a look….

█ Arup Associates http://www.arupassociates.com/en/
Our world-leading architects and engineers work together in one studio, collaborating as genuine equals on every project. This fusion of ideas helps us create architecture that challenges conventions, setting new standards that shape the future of buildings. Arup Associates prioritise research as a driver of design. Arup (officially Arup Group Limited) is a multinational professional services firm headquartered in London, UK which provides engineering, design, planning, project management and consulting services for all aspects of the built environment. The firm is present in Africa, the Americas, Australasia, East Asia, Europe and the Middle East, and has over 11,000 staff based in 92 offices across 42 countries.

█ Aecom http://www.aecom.com/
What sets us apart is our collaborative way of working globally and delivering locally. A trusted partner to our clients, we draw together teams of engineers, planners, architects, landscape architects, environmental specialists, economists, scientists, consultants, as well as cost construction, project and program managers dedicated to finding the most innovative and appropriate solutions to create, enhance and sustain the world’s built, natural and social environments. From transportation, energy and water systems to enhancing environments and creating new buildings and communities, our vision remains constant — to make the world a better place. Listed on the Fortune 500 as one of America’s largest companies, Aecom’s employees now serve clients in more than 150 countries around the world.

█ DP Architects http://www.dpa.com.sg/
DP Architects, formed shortly after Singapore’s national independence in 1965, has designed many of the country’s most important public projects. Each of these has played a critical role in shaping Singapore’s civic urban landscape and downtown core, by linking spaces of the city in the formation of a continuous urban fabric. These sites serve as social and cultural anchors for Singapore and as public nodes of human density that have contributed greatly to the city’s success. As a practice evolving contiguously with Singapore as a global city, DPA’s local role is as a practice ingrained with a special understanding of regional progress and needs. DPA applies this regional knowledge – from aspects of climate to social and economic factors that contribute to a city’s long-term health – to its projects throughout Southeast Asia and the Middle East. The firm’s recent architectural works are some of the largest of their type in the world: The Dubai Mall at 550,000 square metres is a ‘city within a city’ hosting programmes of shopping, entertainment and leisure, and was in 2013 the world’s most visited leisure destination with 75 million visitors.

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

*Images (from top): Singapore National Stadium via
expatliving.sg | blog.bouygues-construction.com | xcite.fun.net
Sports Hub under construction via tinypic.com
Stadium interior via dragages.com
Stadium photograph via straitstimes.com
Covered concourse detail via cavinteo.blogspot.com
Exterior detail via archdaily.net
Interior trusses via e-architect.co.uk
Interior scanned from Icon 137 Nov 2014 p 071
Map – Kallang Basin, Singapore via newlaunchonline.com

[click to enlarge]

Significant Tree: 23 Church St, Mosgiel

The applicant (LUC-2014-579) wanting to remove a Significant Tree is none other than Mosgiel-Taieri Community Board member Martin Dillon.

His profile at the DCC website:

Significant Tree – 23 Church Street, Mosgiel – LUC-2014-579

Closes: 16/01/2015

Notification of Application for a Resource Consent – Under Section 93(2) of the Resource Management Act 1991.

The Dunedin City Council has received the following application for Resource Consent:

Application description
To remove a tree that is listed in the Dunedin City District Plan under Schedule 25.5 as T068 (English elm).

Related documents
█ LUC-2014-579 Public Notice (PDF, 33.8 KB)
This document is the Public Notice for Resource Consent application LUC-2014-579

█ LUC-2014-579 Submission form (PDF, 92.4 KB)
This document can be used to make a submission regarding Resource Consent application LUC-2014-579

█ LUC-2014-579 Application (PDF, 1.8 MB)
This document is a scanned copy of the application for resource consent LUC-2014-579

Notified resource consent details

Closing date
16/01/2015

Consent number
Significant tree – 23 Church Street, Mosgiel – LUC-2014-579

Name of applicant
M L & M C Dillon [Martin Dillon]

Location of site
23 Church Street, Mosgiel, being that land legally described as Lot 1 Deposited Plan 9558, held in Computer Freehold Register OT412/28

Address for service
M L & M C Dillon, 23 Church Street, Mosgiel 9024.

Online submission form

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Making a submission

IMPORTANT: If you wish to make a submission on this application you may do so by sending a written submission to the consent authority, Dunedin City Council at PO Box 5045, Moray Place, Dunedin, 9058 Attn: City Planning, no later than 5:00 pm on the closing date shown.

The submission must be dated, signed by you, and include the following information:
1. Your name and postal address and phone number/fax number;
2. Details of the application in respect of which you are making the submission including location;
3. Whether you support, oppose, or are neutral towards the application;
4. Your submission, with reasons;
5. The decision you wish the consent authority to make;
6. Whether you wish to be heard in support of your submission.

Please note: If you make your submission by electronic means, a signature is not required.
An acknowledgment of your submission will be sent by post when the submission is accepted as complete. The application may be viewed at the City Planning Enquiries Desk, Customer Service Centre on the Ground Floor, Civic Centre, 50 The Octagon.
A copy of your submission must also be served as soon as reasonably practicable on the applicant at the address for service detailed on the public notices, available above.

DCC Link

█ DCC on Significant Trees

█ Dunedin City District Plan — Schedule 25.3 Significant Trees (PDF, 275.6 KB)

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Related Post and Comments:
15.5.14 Significant Tree: 28A Heriot Row
22.2.13 DCC: Significant Trees

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Auckland’s Civic Building first skyscraper #Modern

Photographer Patrick Reynolds says the Civic is an important building by an important architect – chief city architect Tibor Donner (1946-1967) – and it appealed enormously as “Hotel Moderne” with its modernist credentials.

### metromag.co.nz June 10, 2014
Urban Design
The Civic Building: Modernist Folly, Architectural Treasure
By Chris Barton
Why we should all be up in arms at the threatened demolition of the Auckland Council Civic Building.
There’s a surprise at the top of the hated Civic Building. From afar, you could guess there was some sort of observation deck, but the central roof-top courtyard open to the sky and to terrific east and west viewing across the cityscape to the harbour is a delight. Shut to the public since the 1970s, the restricted area is looking a little shabby, but one can easily imagine how the space could be brought back to life and, combined with a makeover of the staff cafeteria a level below, could be the tearoom talk of the town. Here might be a rare commodity in Auckland — public space on high — given that most other high places are either off limits, commercialised or privatised.
No 1 Greys Ave, formerly known as the Auckland City Council Administration Building, has plenty of other unique features: the rolled Corbusian corners of the metal-clad plant room, the curvy Le Corbusier-inspired entrance canopy, the mezzanine lobby and the precast terrazzo treads and iron balustrades of the open staircase.
Read more + Photos by Patrick Reynolds

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### NZ Herald Online 11:51 AM Tuesday Nov 18, 2014
Bid to save NZ’s first skyscraper
By Bernard Orsman – Super City reporter
Plans to save New Zealand’s first skyscraper, the Civic Building on Aotea Square, or demolish it have been outlined to councillors and the media today. Council officers have been investigating options and market interest to refurbish the building, which will be empty by the New Year after serving as the city’s main civic administration building since 1966. The wrecking ball has been hanging over the building since the Auckland Council paid $104 million for the 31-storey ASB Bank Centre in Albert St for its new headquarters. The 100m tower was designed in the 1950s and completed in 1966. It has been criticised as an ugly box, but many architects marvel at its features. Architect Julia Gatley, an authority on modern architecture in New Zealand, has praised it as a beautifully proportioned, slender building that encapsulates modernism. It has no heritage status, but two reports have suggested it warrants a category A listing, and the council’s heritage division says it merits category B status. Heritage New Zealand also wants to see it gain heritage status and saved. The council’s property arm said without major refurbishment and the removal asbestos it would be unsuitable for council or other uses, such as commercial, residential and hotel. Auckland Council Property said it would cost about $78 million for full refurbishment to modern office and code requirements, or $60 million for a residential conversion. Demolition and site reinstatement is estimated at between $11.5 million to $12.5 million.
Read more

Civic Building demolished – revamped Aotea Square with new ‘teletubbie’ commercial buildings | Regional Facilities Auckland

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

*Images: (from top) heritageetal.blogspot.com – Former Auckland City Council Administration Building, 1 Greys Avenue (1981); metromag.co.nz – Civic Building on Aotea Square by Patrick Reynolds; stuffcrush.blogspot.co.nz – Civic Building, fenestration detail (2011) by Caleb

Significant Tree: 28A Heriot Row

Proposed for Removal: Significant Tree T578

Submissions Close: 30/05/2014

Notification of Application for a Resource Consent – Under Section 93(2) of the Resource Management Act 1991.

The Dunedin City Council has received the following application for Resource Consent:

Application description
Resource consent is sought to remove a significant tree at 28A Heriot Row, Dunedin. The tree is a Maple Tree (genus Acer) and is recorded as T578 in Schedule 25.3 of the Dunedin City District Plan. The tree is located in the front yard of the subject site.

The site is legally described as Part Section 30 Block XXIV Town of Dunedin, held in Computer Freehold Register OT96/150, and has an approximate area of 463m2. The site is located within the Royal Terrace/Pitt Street/Heriot Row Heritage Precinct (TH08).

Applicant: John and Evellen Jackson of Drysdale Ltd – 142 Stafford Drive, Ruby Bay, Mapua 7005

Read more:
http://www.dunedin.govt.nz/council-online/notified-resource-consents/current-consultation/significant-tree-28a-heriot-row

Quick Find: Application LUC-2014-157 (PDF, 882.3 KB)

Light green circle indicates trunk position of Maple tree at 28A
Sketch concept for site development supplied by applicant

DCC Webmap showing proximity of Ritchie House, 26 Heriot Row

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The applicant only seeks removal of the listed tree; a second resource consent application would be required to develop the subject site, since it is located in the heritage precinct.

SUBDIVISION HELL AT HERIOT ROW
The subject site is part of the former garden allotment, with original brick garage, of the Heritage New Zealand listed Category 1 Historic Place, the Ritchie House at 26 Heriot Row. This large, outstanding Arts and Crafts house and the brick garage were designed by renowned Dunedin architect Basil Hooper.

The applicant bought the property knowing the Significant Tree (Maple) was listed for protection in the district plan. The tree does not preclude development of the site; and note there is a covenant in place.

Independent consulting advice from an arborist, a landscape architect, and a design architect, to the Hearing Committee should be mandatory for consideration of the application. An opinion should also be sought from Heritage New Zealand (heritage precinct).

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Heritage New Zealand registration information for 26 Heriot Row – go to Assessment criteria at http://www.heritage.org.nz/the-register/details/7492

Dunedin Heritage Fund
(administered by Heritage New Zealand and the Dunedin City Council)
2004. The owners of Ritchie House received a $20,000 loan to assist with a range of restoration works.

Seen from 28 Heriot Row – 28A garden with Maple tree, and 26 Ritchie House

Related Post and Comments:
22.2.13 DCC: Significant Trees

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Botanic Garden: Visitor-vandals caught by DCC webcam

“Dunedin City Council parks manager Mick Reece said the botanic garden team had been intending to install security video for some time, but the weekend’s vandalism had made it an imperative.” –ODT

oooooohhh . . .

Ouroboros with nighttime visitors via DCC webcam. Photo supplied.
[click to enlarge]

The group were there for about 15 minutes on Saturday 11 January.

DCC website: Dunedin Botanic Garden cam
Views of the botanic garden from the top of Croque-o-Dile café.

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### ODT Online Wed, 15 Jan 2014
Vandalism spurs CCTV move
By Debbie Porteous
Closed-curcuit television is to be installed at the Dunedin Botanic Garden after vandals damaged the city’s latest piece of public art. Someone entered the garden at the weekend and put a dint in the steel worm sculpture, also known as Ouroboros. The sculpture was installed in mid-December.
Read more

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Related Posts and Comments:
30.12.13 Botanic Garden: Ouroboros (more images)
15.7.13 Art in public places: Dunedin worms and wyrms #snakesinthegrass
3.1.12 Art in public places #Dunedin

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Norman Foster: SkyCycling utopia above London railways #ThinkBig

Or how to put DCC and NZTA to shame for their dangerous, low-design segregated cycle lane solution at Dunners. See the latest DCC / NZTA report, Summary of Cycle Safety Options Made Public, at Comments.

Foster SkyCycle [click to enlarge]

So Big Norm’s a cyclist, and when he gets a wee bit of work in New York City from time to time he likes to travel The High Line [Wikipedia]. But then. He had a gazumping thought about London congestion.

Foster is the only architect on Britain’s rich list.

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### dezeen.com 2 January 2014
Norman Foster promotes “cycling utopia” above London’s railways
News: British architect Norman Foster has unveiled a concept to build a network of elevated pathways above London’s railways to create safe car-free cycling routes, following 14 cyclist deaths on the city’s streets in 2013.
Entitled SkyCycle, the proposal by architects Foster + Partners, landscape architects Exterior Architecture and transport consultant Space Syntax is for a “cycling utopia” of approximately 220 kilometres of dedicated cycle lanes, following the routes of existing train lines.
Over 200 entrance points would be dotted across the UK capital to provide access to ten different cycle paths. Each route would accommodate up to 12,000 cyclists per hour and could improve journey times across the city by up to half an hour.
“SkyCycle is a lateral approach to finding space in a congested city,” said Foster, who is both a regular cyclist and the president of Britain’s National Byway Trust. “By using the corridors above the suburban railways, we could create a world-class network of safe, car free cycle routes that are ideally located for commuters.”
If approved, the routes could be in place within 20 years, offering relief to a transport network that is already at capacity and will need to contend with 12 percent population growth over the next decade.
“To improve the quality of life for all in London and to encourage a new generation of cyclists, we have to make it safe. However, the greatest barrier to segregating cars and cyclists is the physical constraint of London’s streets, where space is already at a premium.”
According to the designers, construction of elevated decks would be considerably cheaper than building new roads and tunnels.
Read more

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### dezeen.com 28 November 2013
Sandwichbike flat-pack wooden bicycle by PedalFactory goes into production
A flat-pack wooden bicycle that can be assembled in less than an hour has gone into production. PedalFactory claims the Sandwichbike can be unpacked and put together in just 45 minutes. The single-speed bike is constructed from 19 parts that are packaged and delivered in a box along with the tools required to assemble it. The Sandwichbike was launched in Amsterdam on Sunday 1 December 2013. This innovative wooden bicycle is now being shipped.
Read more + images/slide show

“If you can make a sandwich, you can make a Sandwichbike.”

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

*Images via dezeen.com

Botanic Garden: Ouroboros

### ODT Online Sat, 14 Dec 2013
The worm has turned up
By Debbie Porteous
A giant glowing worm has appeared above ground at the Dunedin Botanic Garden. It is not a supernatural phenomenon, but the city’s latest piece of public art. The flexible worm, which can bend because it is constructed from thousands of pieces of interlocked and articulating marine-grade stainless steel, was installed over the past two days.
Read more

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Comment at ODT Online:

Worm and landscaping spend
Submitted by ej kerr on Mon, 23/12/2013 – 3:20pm.
Interesting as always to read your columnist Peter Entwisle’s opinions of the stainless Ouroboros at the Botanic Garden (Art Beat, 23.12.13), and the shoddy process adopted by the city council. This alien is planted in an exceptionally poor section of ‘landscaping’ – a meaningless affront of professionally laid and poorly envisioned hard paving, with a ‘playground’ landing pad. The effect of this cynical deadening forecourt on the tea kiosk with its umbrella-style roof is harsh and fully remiss, architecturally – a boffin job of worst kind. Even the ducks are electing to rest for the evening on nearby lawn – having left their excrement across the pavers. Not sure this metalwork is composting!

On Sunday afternoon I was photographing the wormy presence, it’s bluntly phallic at the supported ‘head’ end… when a local resident asked me what I think of the whole thing. Not a good thing to say. He wasn’t terribly impressed either – he said the project in total was worth about $150,000. For such a cruel mess.

Poor Wendy and … Attendants, they need rescue! The fairy tale plot is lost, crashed, abused.

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Related Post and Comments:
15.7.13 Art in public places: Dunedin worms and wyrms #snakesinthegrass
20.5.13 Comment [ODT item and DCC report]

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Post and images by Elizabeth Kerr

DCC: Councillors delegated street furniture decisions to staff

Peter Entwisle says “some principles need teasing out: CONTEXT, AUTHENTICITY, FLEXIBILITY and TRUE EXCEPTIONALITY”

[transpressnz.blogspot.com]

### ODT Online Mon, 11 Nov 2013
Opinion
Rearranging the street furniture
By Peter Entwisle
Dunedin is adopting a new generation of street furniture. It’s happened before with varying results and we should try to do better this time.
Read more

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Dunedin City Council – Media Release
Free Parking – for Cycles
This item was published on 19 Jun 2012.
The rollout of 56 new cycle stands around the city is almost complete. The sites are high demand and high profile areas that were identified in consultation with community boards and cycling groups.
There are two types of stand – 46 basic U-shaped stainless steel stands, and two sets of five stands that, when installed, spell ‘cycle’. The stands were designed in-house and manufactured by local business Identimark with some parts of the manufacturing process undertaken in Auckland.
Read more

16.7.11 ODT More cyclists than a year ago: survey
Dunedin will spend $20,000 on 70 cycle stands for central city sites over the next two years.

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Bicycle Management
Dunedin City Council: Cycle stands, hitching rails and facilities
http://www.dunedin.govt.nz/services/cycling/cycle-stands

University of Otago, Property Services: Cycling & Cycle Racks
http://www.propserv.otago.ac.nz/services/parkingcyclerack.html

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Related Posts and Comments:
8.11.13 Dunedin Separated Cycle Lane Proposal
5.11.13 DCC, NZTA: Cycle lanes controversy
19.10.13 Cycle lobby games and media tilts
24.9.13 Mediocrity and lack of critical awareness at DCC [council reports]
8.7.13 Bloody $tupid cycleways and Cull’s electioneering . . . [route maps]
28.3.13 DCC DAP 2013/14: Portobello Harington Point Road Improvements
26.2.13 DCC binge spending alert: Proposed South Dunedin cycle network
22.2.13 DCC: Council meeting agenda and reports for 25 February 2013
31.1.13 Who? 2010 electioneering
21.11.12 Safe cycling -Cr Fliss Butcher

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

University: Leith flood protection scheme and landscaping

Proposed landscaping within the university’s heritage precinct. The St David St footbridge will be extended. [graphic via ODT]

### ODT Online Wed, 24 Jul 2013
Registry stretch of Leith set for summer revamp
By Rebecca Fox
The stretch of the Water of Leith in front of the University of Otago’s registry building looks set to get a multimillion-dollar makeover this summer. Students, staff and visitors could soon be able to walk along grassy verges next to lowered banks of the river, from the St David St footbridge to the Union St bridge, if a design plan is approved at an Otago Regional Council committee meeting tomorrow.
It has been about seven years since the council and the university signed an agreement to work together to produce a plan to suit the council’s need for flood protection and the university’s need for an aesthetic look in front of its historic registry building.
The council had budgeted $5.4 million over the next 12 months for the work. The university and the council are each to fund half the cost of the aesthetic work.
Among the work to be endorsed by the committee is the lowering of most of the concrete wall on the east bank, extending the footbridge, cutting down the west bank and landscaping and footpath redevelopment.
Read more

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Related Posts and Comments:
27.5.13 Carisbrook and Leith flood protection
17.11.10 Leith Lindsay Flood Protection Scheme
17.5.10 Campus Master Plan
28.1.10 University of Otago Campus Master Plan

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Resene Architecture & Design Film Festival 2013

Resene is working with Rialto Cinemas to bring you the Resene Architecture & Design Film Festival, screening in Auckland 9-22 May …Wellington 23 May-5 June …Dunedin 6-9 June 2013!

See the programme for details
Resene Architecture & Design Film Festival programme (PDF, 881 KB)

Rialto Cinemas Dunedin
11 Moray Place, Dunedin

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Chongqing, Southwest China

### news.xinhuanet.com | English.news.cn 2013-01-26 21:27:26
Chongqing sets new roadmap in post-Bo Xilai era
CHONGQING, Jan. 27 (Xinhua) — Chongqing’s municipal government vowed Saturday it would shake off the impacts of the Bo Xilai scandal and make law-abiding governance the priority alongside further reform. Huang Qifan, mayor of the metropolis in southwest China, described 2012 as an “extremely extraordinary year” for Chongqing’s development in his report on the work of the municipal government, which was delivered to the 4th Chongqing Municipal People’s Congress.

The local legislature convened its annual session on Saturday with aims to outline the city’s future blueprint for the next five years. The mayor said the government has endeavoured to maintain steady economical and social development despite the severe toll of the incidents involving Bo Xilai, with the city recording an annual economic growth of 13.6 percent. “It turned out that Chongqing citizens have weathered storms and withstood ordeals,” he said.

The government published the full text of its work report, in which it placed governing in accordance with the Constitution and the law as a main focus for this year, while references to Chongqing’s previous high-profile crackdowns on organised crimes are notably absent. In 2009, when Bo Xilai was the CPC (Communist Party of China) chief of Chongqing, the city launched a massive anti-crime campaign, prioritising fighting local mafia-style gangs. Though Bo and Chongqing’s police were credited with reducing crime, concerns were raised about abuses of power and the neglect of due legal process.

The government should rule in accordance with the law, and “no organisation or individual has the privilege to overstep the Constitution and the law,” the work report said. A power reshuffle in this session is set to usher in new local leaders, higher requirements are posed for the municipal government to further intensify reform, Huang told the lawmakers, adding that improvement to work style should be made following the central leadership’s call for eradicating bureaucracy and formalism in December.

Officials in Chongqing are urged to remain low-key and down to earth, talk less and work more to better serve the people.
Read more

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“Amazing city… but without spirit… is a City with many construction. Don’t have the beauty of Brasilia… is a new city of construction.” —Cidade_Branca (architect) at SkyscaperCity CHONGQING | Projects & Construction (2.11.07 03:36 AM)

Wikipedia: Chongqing

“One river is naturally brown from the silt, the other is normal dark blue.”
—the spliff fairy at SkyscraperCity (28.2.13 01:54 PM)

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### nytimes.com September 26, 2011
Built in a Dirty Boom, China’s Biggest City Tries to Go Green
By Coco Liu – ClimateWire
CHONGQING, China — Wandering around in downtown Chongqing, it is hard to imagine that this is a city that is going green. Vehicles clog roads in every direction. Construction cranes stretch to the horizon. And huge posters displaying locally produced industrial goods show where the city’s exploding economic growth is coming from. But Chongqing (population 28,846,200) is more than meets the eye. After living with acid rain and toxic smog for decades, the city has been scrambling for ways to clean up the air. It is also overhauling its power-hungry economy and rebuilding it on a base of industries that use less energy.

Chongqing isn’t alone on such a transformation path. It is one of several pilot provinces and cities that Chinese leaders picked last year in an attempt to find a low-carbon growth model that can be spread to the rest of the nation. Experts attribute this new Chinese desire to the fact that China’s environment and natural resources can no longer afford the blights of heavily polluting, energy-intensive growth. Moreover, there is growing pressure from the outside world to reduce emissions.

Chongqing, controlled demolition 30.8.12

Cities will play a major role in that effort. During the next 20 years, more than half of global greenhouse gas emissions are estimated to come from the developing world’s cities, and more than half of that will come from Chinese cities, says Michael Lindfield, a lead urban development specialist at the Asian Development Bank. “So the importance of making Chinese cities energy-efficient is really a global issue, not just a Chinese issue,” Lindfield added.

But none of this comes easily. For one, it is hard for cities to uproot decades-old economic foundations. In addition, cities risk revenue losses. Energy-guzzling factories that are shut down, in many cases, can’t be immediately offset by low-carbon industries that are still in their nascent stage. Moreover, the switch from traditional industries to green businesses claims jobs, at least for a short term. While cement makers can hire people with few skills, solar panel producers can’t.

Chongqing [became] one of the nation’s industrial hubs. It is China’s biggest producer of motorcycles. It leads in aluminum production. Every day, containers of made-in-Chongqing steel, chemicals and machinery are loaded on cargo ships and then sent from here to destinations along the Yangtze River. All this came at a heavy price.

Data from the World Bank showed that in the early 2000s, one-third of crops in the Chongqing area had been damaged by acid rain — the result of sulfur dioxide and other industrial pollutants. Breathing here became a dangerous thing to do. The World Bank reported that in 2004, residents in Chongqing were inhaling six times more lung cancer-causing pollutants than the World Health Organization considers safe.

“The city was always enveloped by fog and smog,” explained Li, the local economist. The mountain terrain around it helped concentrate Chongqing’s murky air, he said, “but pollution from heavy industries was the key.”
Read more

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Chongqing Planning and Exhibition Centre. The city model shows a concept idea of the future of Chongqing. Most important skyscrapers aren’t added until they have a definitive design. —z0rg at SkyscraperCity CHONGQING | Projects & Construction (6.8.06 09:32 PM)

100 towers taller than 200m including 20 supertalls in one city.
Chongqing 200+ metre List —z0rg at SkyscraperCity (6.7.08 10:05 AM)

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[ODT] The project was being advanced on their behalf by Betterways, of which Ms Jing Song was also a director.

### ODT Online Sat, 23 Mar 2013
Betterways, Diamond Heights link
By Chris Morris
DUNEDIN — The construction company linked to Dunedin’s proposed $100 million waterfront hotel is building the tallest tower in western China. The building will be the tallest for the time being, at least. It has been confirmed the company linked to Dunedin’s proposed hotel is Diamond Heights Construction Engineering Co Ltd, which is based in Chongqing, China, and employs more than 1000 staff. The company is owned by Ping Cao, who together with wife Jing Song, of Queenstown, wants to build Dunedin’s five-star hotel on industrial land at 41 Wharf St.

While it was said Diamond Heights would not be directly involved in construction of Dunedin’s hotel – should consent to proceed be granted – Mr Cao and Ms Song planned to fund it together and contract a New Zealand company to build it.

Mr Cao’s company is responsible for the construction of the 65-storey Shangri-la Hotel in Chongqing, which at 290m high will, when completed, be nearly three times the height of Dunedin’s proposed hotel. It was almost finished, with only the exterior cladding to be added, and was an impressive sight when visited by Betterways Advisory Ltd director Steve Rodgers last year, he told the Otago Daily Times.
The company was also involved in other projects in China, including two sprawling mixed-use developments comprising hotels, other commercial buildings and housing.
Read more

Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts is said to be Asia Pacific’s leading luxury hotel group. Four Shangri-La hotels are projected for Chongqing.
Image: businesstraveller.asia

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Related Posts and Comments:
16.3.13 Hotel: COC jollies and sweet cherry pie
23.1.13 Proposed hotel: Council and submitters await detailed information
28.12.12 ‘Low-rises are great for the community and the residents’
24.12.12 A Christmas Tale
21.12.12 Proposed hotel – ODT graphic indicates building height
19.12.12 Hearing for proposed hotel – competencies, conflicts of interest?
16.12.12 Proposed Dunedin Hotel #height
10.12.12 Proposed hotel, 41 Wharf St – “LEARNING FROM LAS VEGAS”
7.12.12 Proposed hotel – Truescape shenanigans
6.12.12 Dunedin Hotel – revised design
2.12.12 Roy Rogers and Trigger photographed recently at Dunedin
26.11.12 Proposed hotel, 41 Wharf Street – indicative landscape effects
20.11.12 City planner’s report recommends against consent for hotel
10.11.12 Dunedin Hotel, 41 Wharf Street (LUC 2012-212)
4.10.12 DUNEDIN: We’re short(!) but here is some UK nous…
8.9.12 Waterfront Hotel #Dunedin (Applicant names?)
7.9.12 Waterfront hotel: DCC to notify resource consent application
23.6.12 Mis(t)apprehension: website visits, not bookings?
16.5.12 Dunedin Hotel

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Growth fetish ? Urban sprawl v Higher density living ?

### onenesspublishing.com March 20, 2013
Urban sprawl isn’t to blame: unsustainable cities are the product of growth fetish
By Brendan Gleeson
In a recent article on The Conversation Robert Nelson argues we are all morally culpable for unsustainable urban sprawl. He goes on to suggest we fix this by taking advantage of opportunities for higher density development in sparsely populated inner suburbs. But his argument is based on a false opposition: mounting evidence shows that high density development in inner areas performs very poorly in terms of resource consumption and greenhouse emissions. The idea that outer suburbs are inherently less sustainable than inner ones doesn’t bear scrutiny. The key question is not where we accommodate growth; it’s our slavish pursuit of growth itself.
Read more

● Brendan Gleeson is Professor in Urban Policy Studies at University of Melbourne.

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The Conversation hosts in-depth analysis, research, news and ideas from leading academics and researchers.

Read two articles by Robert Nelson at The Conversation:

The grass isn’t greener in the outer ‘burbs (7 March 2013, 6.43am AEST)
“For a long a time real estate close to the palace was socially desirable, and anyone with aspirations didn’t want to know about the rest. Today in Melbourne inner-city people are embarrassed to reveal knowledge of the outer suburbs such as South Morang, like 17th century Parisians who would mispronounce the street-names of poorer areas or affect not to know them at all. Throughout history, the distribution of wealth has had a geographical expression. Snobbery, however, is only part of the challenge of urban geography. Power and privilege are concentrated within 10kms of the city centre.”

The devaluing dream; why Australian suburbia is an economic disaster (11 January 2012, 6.22am AEST)
“In spite of what everyone believes through natural pride and vanity, the family house is an asset that depreciates. Don’t be deceived that the value of property goes up and up, which of course it does. The rising prices are caused by the land becoming more expensive, not the house itself.”

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

*Image: shutterstock.com – urban expansion

DCC could foil best landscape solution for Ellis Park

Image Source: ODT

Ellis Park neighbours Kerry and Elizabeth Goodhew express their frustration at the planned location and style for softball clubrooms at Ellis Park, and at what they see as a lack of Dunedin City Council consultation and poor processes.

### ODT Online Mon, 18 Feb 2013
Opinion
Consultation goes long way to good results
By Kerry and Elizabeth Goodhew
We wish to say for the fourth time that we are not opposed to clubrooms on Ellis Park. We never have been. All three of our submissions from October, two written and one oral at the consent hearing, opened clearly and firmly with comment that: ”We fully agree that softball should have a clubrooms and toilet facilities in the vicinity of Ellis Park.” Next year we will have loved living here 20 years, and all we have asked is that the clubrooms and toilets not be placed in front of our homes.
If you walk/jog/bike/ride a horse along Frasers Rd, and hundreds enjoy doing this, stand at the children’s playground, hundreds use this, and look up the park to imagine two gulag-style prefab buildings joined together two storeys high park-side, on rows of telegraph poles extending 33m into the park, to obliterate the beautiful ”green-scape” view up the park. Is there anybody else in this city (other than council staff or softball interests) who really thinks that this is the right thing to do at that location?
One of the senior officers from the council itself, the landscape architect, does not think so. He states: ”The visual character would be adversely affected” and ”what is now a balanced visual outlook viewed from the playing field or Frasers Rd would be downgraded”. Read ”ruined”.
It was our submission to locate the building elsewhere for all but one of the suggested locations. Before a meeting and our submission, council staff had not considered other places elsewhere on Ellis Park as there is no statement to that effect in the application. Our suggestions were a surprise to them.
Read more

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Related Items:
ODT 1.2.13 Upgrade project at park defended
ODT 3.1.13 Ellis Park plans an ‘abomination’
The Star [undated] Otago Softball dreams of new rooms but neighbours have other views

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

City planner’s report recommends against consent for hotel

UPDATED 21.11.12

See comments at this thread:

Ro https://dunedinstadium.wordpress.com/2012/11/10/dunedin-hotel-41-wharf-street-luc-2012-212/#comment-29089

Elizabeth https://dunedinstadium.wordpress.com/2012/11/10/dunedin-hotel-41-wharf-street-luc-2012-212/#comment-29090

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“What Heydary found came as a shock, especially to some buyers who readily admit they were so blinded by the flash and cash of Donald Trump that they didn’t do proper due diligence: Buyers weren’t purchasing so much a condo as a share in a high-end hotel that, so far at least, is losing money.”

Trump Tower developer suing 7 disgruntled investors to close deals they now regret

Anonymous provided this edifying read. It ‘trumps’ what happened with the first tower built at Orewa, and the Spencer on Byron at Takapuna (referred to elsewhere at What if?, or google) – as far as 41 Wharf Street, Dunedin is concerned the tower-scam model is the same. So here we are, naive and wide open to the wiles of our own ‘good old boys’ and their unsavoury quest for a share of dirty-quick money from fickle overseas ‘connections’, and your life savings too.

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### ODT Online Wed, 21 Nov 2012
DCC report opposes city hotel
By Chris Morris
Plans for a 28-storey waterfront hotel towering over Dunedin have been dealt a blow by a Dunedin City Council report that criticises the design and recommends resource consent be declined. The report by council planner Lianne Darby, made public yesterday, identified the hotel’s height and dominant appearance as among areas of concern. A host of technical worries also raised doubts, ranging from traffic problems and shading to a lack of information about wind gusts magnified by the tower’s height. Ms Darby’s report left the door ajar by including a list of detailed conditions to impose if consent were granted, despite her recommendation.
Read more

Source: ODT Files

Note to graphic: Under the Resource Management Act (RMA) the commissioners to hear the application cannot consider the economic viability of the proposed hotel project – the matters with a red cross, at right, fall within the scope of the Act. The applicant is required to show the adverse effects of the proposed development are no more than minor.

Read Post Application Information at DCC website

‘New information’ about the hypothetical footbridge cannot be considered at hearing since it was NOT included in the notified application.

### ODT Online Tue, 20 Nov 2012
Hotel developer unveils link bridge proposal
By Chris Morris
The man promoting Dunedin’s proposed 28-storey hotel has unveiled plans for a “world class” pedestrian and cyclist bridge that could provide a missing link to the city’s waterfront. However, the idea is only the “starting point for a discussion”, with key details – including how much the sweeping structure would cost and who would pay for it – yet to be confirmed, Betterways Advisory Ltd director Steve Rodgers said.
Read more

Source: Ignite Architects Ltd (via ODT)

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Dunedin Hotel, 41 Wharf Street (LUC 2012-212)

All submitters received a letter dated 2 November 2012 from Dunedin City Council informing them of the dates on which the Hearings Committee will consider the Betterways Advisory Ltd’s resource consent application for 41 Wharf Street, Dunedin.

The council hearings committee is Cr Colin Weatherall (chairman), Cr Andrew Noone and Cr Kate Wilson. Submissions will be heard in the Edinburgh Room, Municipal Chambers.

Hearing dates:
Monday 3 December 2012 – 9am to 5pm
Tuesday 4 December 2012 – 9am to 5pm
Wednesday 5 December 2012 – 10am to 7.30pm
Thursday 6 December 2012 – 9am to 5pm

And if required:
Monday 17 December 2012 – 9am to 5pm
Tuesday 18 December 2012 – 9am to 5pm
Wednesday 19 December 2012 – 9am to 5pm

It is anticipated the applicant will present for the first day and part of the second day. Submitters are likely to commence their presentations from 2pm on Tuesday 4 December.

Altogether, there were 508 public submissions. Not all submitters wish to be heard. That’s right, the applicant has about a day and a half to present substantively; submitters get 10 minutes each. Such is the democratic process.

The intention must be that if the Council grants consent – red carpet – then we take it to the Environment Court on appeal.

There has been no cost benefit analysis for the proposed hotel. Given the shortcomings of the site, neither the Applicant or the Dunedin City Council have declared the potential costs, including infrastructure services costs, of this project to ratepayers. There’s quite a lot the Council isn’t saying publicly; and quite a lot it’s saying, politically, behind closed doors to the applicant, we hear.

The Application: (DCC webpages)
● Current notified applications
● LUC-2012-212 (Betterways Advisory Limited) – all documents

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Published on May 13, 2012 by DunedinNZofficial

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Dunedin lawyer Steve Rodgers said he remained convinced the hotel would be a “game-changer” for Dunedin and was “98.2%” confident it would win approval at next month’s resource consent hearing.

### ODT Online Sat, 10 Nov 2012
Hotel project spokesman confident of go-ahead
By Chris Morris
The man acting as the public face for a proposed 28-storey waterfront hotel in Dunedin says the project remains “full steam ahead” despite a public outcry. However, Dunedin lawyer Steve Rodgers – the director of Betterways Advisory Ltd, the company fronting the development – would not rule out changes to the hotel’s design, but hoped a fight through the Environment Court could be avoided.
Read more

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Related Posts:
8.9.12 Waterfront Hotel #Dunedin (Applicant names?)
7.9.12 Waterfront hotel: DCC to notify resource consent application
16.5.12 Dunedin Hotel

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

New Zealand Urban Design Awards

“The importance of upfront investment in the public domain, whether by a public authority or private developer.”

### idealog.co.nz Fri, 9 Nov 2011 @ 9:24am
Auckland tops at brand new Urban Design Awards
By Design Daily team
Wynyard Quarter’s Jellicoe Precinct and the Auckland City Centre Masterplan have taken the top awards in the first-ever New Zealand Urban Design Awards, a new biennial programme that acknowledges the importance of high quality urban environments.

Jellicoe Precinct, Wynyard Quarter – Winner, Built Projects category

Wellington waterfront – Highly Commended, Built Projects category

[Images via Idealog]

Jury convenor, former New South Wales government architect Peter Mould, said they looked for projects “which established or reinforced urban initiatives and executed them with demonstrable design excellence”. “Urban design is concerned not so much with individual buildings, but with the building of a city. It’s about place making, and it’s also about the public realm.”

Mould said that if a trend emerged from the first Urban Design Awards, “it was the importance of upfront investment in the public domain, whether by a public authority or private developer. Such investment sets the agenda for excellence in the future”.

Waterfront Auckland’s Jellicoe Precinct, stage one of the development of Wynyard Quarter, was an exemplary case of agenda-setting urban design for which consultants Architectus and Taylor Cullity Leathlean and Wraight + Associates deserved congratulation as winner of the Built Projects category.

The New Zealand Urban Design Awards are supported by the New Zealand Institute of Architects, the Urban Design Forum, the New Zealand Planning Institute, the New Zealand Institute of Landscape Architects and the Property Council of New Zealand.

Joining Mould on the jury were planning consultant David Mead, landscape architect Sally Peake, deputy head of the University of Auckland’s School of Architecture and Planning, Lee Beattie, and property developer Patrick Fontein.
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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr