Breath of Light

About this time last year I wrote that we would publish some of our more recent competition entries, some of which have never seen the light of day like this one.

This collaboration was one of three finalists in a Wellington Sculpture Trust competition back in 2009. The Trust called for proposals for large sculpture to be sited at the gateway to the city (the design competition was essentially a re-run of a 2004 process as the previous competition winning proposal had stalled because of laser beam issues as well as the projected cost).

The three shortlisted proposals were from Kristin O’Sullivan Peren of Central Otago, Phil Price of Christchurch, and Paul Rolfe and Arini Poutu of Wellington. We were invited by Kristin O’Sullivan Peren to help develop her concept proposal; learning from the previous competition the Trust required a cost estimate, engineers report and a maintenance plan to support the artistic concept.

An excellent academic critique by Cassandra Fusco of the proposed artwork  has recently been published in Junctures: The Journal for Thematic Dialogue (“a forum for trans-disciplinary discussion, analysis, and critique”).  ‘Responsibilities, Reclamation and Recuperation – the Critical Constructions of Kristin O’Sullivan Peren’ positions the project within the context of O’Sullivan Peren’s body of work.

The defined site was a slither of land at the base of the escarpment cut off from public access by the main trunk line and state highway 1, but highly visible by land, air and sea approaches to the city. The artwork took the form of three islands to be constructed incrementally from building blocks of compressed plastic waste. The islands would grow at the same rate that plastic waste was produced:

The acknowledgement of this is highlighted by the collection of unsorted waste plastic – venturing into peoples lives to make them aware of this practice and process. On average every Wellingtonian generates 45kg of waste plastic each year, enough material to create 6 Byfusion blocks. Breath of Light will be constructed from up to 100,000 blocks formed with plastic artifacts that have been purchased, consumed and discarded by the residents the city of Wellington.

Breath of Light offers an opportunity to create a dynamic, above ground visualisation of the sheer volume of waste material that we bury in our landfill each year. The three islands are created from Byfusion blocks that condense and contain a waste product that fills land fills our land and clogs our waterways. Block by block Breath of Light is both an individual and collective response to current issues of consumption, waste and the environment. It will be constructed over the period of one year, capturing just 10% of Wellington’s plastic waste and communicating this to all who come in and out of the city

Breath of Light will use reclaimed plastic waste, lighting and an evolving ecology to enable a contemporary conversation and create a beacon for the greater Wellington community, creating three new islands visible to arriving travelers by car, train, boat and aeroplane. The artwork acknowledges the uplift of the seabed, twentieth century reclamation and the presence of the fault line, and recognises the tension between history and the drive for future change. The family of islands will be shaped from a combination of recyclable materials, maintenance-free lights and sustainable native plants.

At night, the sculpture will be transformed by a slow dancing display of light washing over the islands between the hills and the sea. Ground level LED lights, will create an ever-changing wash of colour on the islands, reinforcing the connection with the land, sky, earth and the community that live amongst and pass them.Sadly, shortly after the final proposals were submitted the project was put on indefinite hold. No winner was announced and the final proposals were never published.

Sadly, shortly after the final proposals were submitted the project was put on indefinite hold. No winner was announced and the final proposals were never published.

More bang for buck at Heretaunga College

Painted super-graphics in the Quad illustrate geographical and mathematical principles.

The final stages of work were recently completed on site at Heretaunga College. A large co-ed secondary school located in Upper Hutt,  Wellington, the school’s future was uncertain for many years as The Ministry of Education (MoE) proposed to amalgamate Heretaunga with nearby rivals, Upper Hutt College. Several years of operation with minimal maintenance were brought to a close with the announcement in 2009 of a $12.5m redevelopment of the college campus.

The Quad’s main grass area is a half-raised, half-sunken landform which creates a natural amphitheatre for assemblies or performances.

We were engaged as sub-consultants by Opus Architecture to develop the external spaces and help bring the school into line with the the MoE’s 21st Century Schools Program. Improvements included new technology labs, shared teaching spaces, new administration facilities, student cafe, commercial kitchen, a cultural centre and new external spaces.

In order to ensure that a long term vision drove the design, we first developed a masterplan for the campus, prior to undertaking detailed design and site observation for the two phases of landscape upgrade works.  The school’s initial aspirations included a new bus stop and slip road on site. Through the master planning process we developed an alternative ‘on street’ bus stop option, which freed up space on site as well as a significant proportion of the external works budget. Instead we focused the available budget towards the large new Quad, now the external heart of the school, which was opened up by the removal of one wing of 1950s teaching blocks. This space is now large enough for the whole school to gather for events and performances with a large grass landform, native trees and an asphalt surface enlivened by super-graphics.

The new student entrance from Ward Street.

The redesign has established legible and direct pedestrian connections from the new Ward Street student entrance through the new building Spine to the Quad and gym. Opus’ new building brings plenty of light and views in from these spaces, creating a visual and spatial transparency between the classroom and the external environment. The new classrooms have timber decks that offer opportunities for learning outside. The old entrance was reconfigured and separated from the student entry as a formal entry for staff and visitors. At the same time the vehicle site entry and car parking were rationalised and upgraded.

Concept Masterplan.

The new external spine that offers a significant improvement in wayfinding and accessibility across the grounds. A secondary entrance links the Ward Street carpark with the administration block, separating the formal entrance to the school from the day-to-day student access. The design incorporates robust materials and native plantings, referencing the sites location within the Hutt Valley alluvial plains.

The school management and students have embraced the new school entrance and social learning spaces as a vastly improved place to learn.

Design Team: Nathan Young, Ralph Johns, Lisa Rimmer, Andrew Norriss

Architecture / Structural & Civil: Opus

Project budget: $450k external works / $12.5m total project

Size / Scale: 9.5 Ha

Date: 2010 – 2012

Photography: Jet Productions and dodge & burn

Super-graphics give good bang-for-buck.

The new vehicle entry has removed the conflict between pedestrians and cars.

The reconfigured staff and visitor entrance.

New Zealand Memorial Park Competition (2008)

To acknowledge Anzac Day, we thought it was time we published some images and text from our competition entry:

Back in 2008  the Ministry for Culture and Heritage (MCH), in association with the Wellington City Council, sought expressions of interest from designers to create a 9,600m² park in front of the National War Memorial in Wellington. Along with 7 other shortlisted teams, Isthmus was invited to submit design proposals for a park design competition.   The aim of the proposed park was to improve the setting of the National War Memorial and to provide a space for people to congregate on ceremonial occasions.  In addition there was a need to create a space in the capital city for the development of new memorials, from countries with which New Zealand has a close relationship. The timeline aimed to have the park open in time for Anzac Day 2010. However, the competition stumbled when the neighbouring school got concerned about moving the state highway to the north and the eight competition entries were never published or exhibited (there was a competition winner – Wraight & Athfield – but there was never any official announcement).

Our park design did not attempt to tell the stories of military and peacekeeping action in which New Zealanders have taken part, but rather it was evocative of the landscapes from which they came – the hills, bays and headlands – against which stories of national identity could be told.  The primary design move was to generate an abstracted landscape formation of Hill, Bay and Headland formed through the interaction of a green blanket with the dominant landscape and built forms of the city. The blanket is symbolic of the domestic military life; a small piece of home taken to foreign lands to provide personal support, comfort and shelter.

The composition and form was grounded in urban design principles and unique spatial objectives, integrated with the major requirements of transportation and infrastructure on site.  The green blanket rises from the east in a series of rippling ground formations - the Hill – among which stories of the New Zealand Wars could be told, providing the context for past conflicts to be remembered and memorialized.  From there the blanket passed under a lower flat paved area asymmetrically aligned with the National War Memorial - the Bay – which provides a safe and sheltered refuge for international commemoration. Finally, the blanket rose through another series of ground formations and above the new museum building to the west to assert itself within the city – the Headland – which provides a space for the commemoration of peace.  The strong landform based concept had a simple palette of materials evocative of New Zealand landscapes and provided an appropriate functional and experiential setting for the National War Memorial.

Memorial Park viewed from the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior, with the Ceremonial Lawn and approach steps on axis, Memorial Grove leading up to the
headland to the left, the hill ground formations and regeneration manuka fi eld to the right.

Memorial Grove of ANZAC Day fl owering Lacebark, with interactive lighting catenary over, individually activated by users as a mark of
rememberance and evocative of the pacifi c constellations.

Water Outcrop at arrival to Memorial Park from Tory Street, ground formations rise up to the Ceremonial Lawn, gathering paths interspersed with NZ Wars
history lines lead the way

We elected not to move the state highway to the north (off the Te Aro grid), or to bury it in a tunnel (which created new problems, not to mention significant costs). Our view was that the experience of the city and its national monuments should be integrated with the road network, and that high quality, safe public spaces could be designed in proximity to the road. Pedestrian crossing at-grade would be enabled by the phased control of the Tory Steet intersection. We never received any feedback from MCH so don’t know if this was viewed as a fatal flaw in our design or not……..

The extended competition winning scheme is shown in the background of NZTA’s Basin Reserve project, but the extent, scope, funding and timeline for the park is still a subject of discussion between MCH, Wellington City Council and the NZTA. It is anticipated that the park will be completed by 2015 to mark the 100th anniversary of Anzac.

Kumutoto Stage 2

Wellington Waterfront Limited are currently seeking feedback on the concept design for the second stage of the Kumutoto Precinct.

A new building  - 10 Waterloo Quay – has been designed by Studio of Pacific Architecture for the Newcrest Group. Isthmus have  extended the public spaces of Kumutoto Stage 1 northwards along the quay, and collaborated with the architects to pull the external space under the building. 60% of the ground floor of the building is (semi) public open space. The building above the ground floor will be five levels of office space in line with the use contemplated in the Wellington Waterfront Framework and the proposed District Plan Variation 11.

Kumutoto landscape masterplan

The site has been vacant since the 1980s since which time it has seen many development proposals (see below). Hopefully the time is right and this one will get off the ground….. although as we have seen over the last twenty years, new buildings on Wellington Waterfront are not met with enthusiasm by all.

Hear David Irwin talk about the design concept for the public space:

 

Back to the 80s

(when Kumutoto was known as North Queens Wharf)

This is the late 1980s development proposal on the site of 10 Waterloo Quay. That’s about 11 floors of building, growing out of a fake warehouse.

And this is what was planned for Kumutoto. Note the tower strategically placed in the Johnston Street viewshaft, the elevated walkway over Waterloo Quay and the sun umbrellas…..