Working waterfronts are constantly in flux; crusty, utilitarian, muscular and dissolving, with temporal qualities that engage all of our senses. Yet contemporary waterfront redevelopments are often characterised by the removal of the very qualities that attract us to these places. At Auckland’s Wynyard Point redevelopment these conventions are challenged in a development that anticipates transforming a forlorn industrial and maritime precinct into a mixed-use precinct.
Underpinning the design are two ‘key moves’. Retention and enhancing of fishing and maritime industries form the focus of new public experiences and, interpreting the site’s peculiar archaeology of patterns and materiality to inform a new public landscape.
Jellicoe Harbour is a major tourism attraction centred on the retention of the fishing fleet, wholesale and retail fish and seafood markets, and new promenades and restaurants. Silo Park is a layered public space that facilitates a range of hybrid uses including passive recreation, event space, youth precinct, industry and folly. Each program is new to the site, yet built from the pattern language, infrastructure and the mythology of place.
Location: Auckland, New Zealand
Completion Date: 2011
Construction budget: $32,000,000 (AUD)
Size: 1.8 Hectare
Credits
Lead Landscape Architects: Taylor Cullity Lethlean
Landscape Architects: Wraight and Associates
Architecture (North Wharf Buildings) - Feron Hay
Civil and Structural Engineering – Beca
Structural Engineers (Gantry)– Felicetti and BGT Auckland
Services Engineers - Hyder Consulting
WSUD - Design Flow
Perspective Artist - Ian Stantiall
Lighting Design - Electrolight and Ecubed
Construction: Dominion Constructors, Total Spaces and City Parks
