Auckland needs representation of giant pou — Taylor
DUNEDIN businessman Ian Taylor says Auckland needs a good visual representation of a planned giant pou being considered for Auckland in the same way Dunedin got to see what its planned waterfront might look like.
A video Mr Taylor’s company Animation Research created has been released after three out of four people responding to a poll opposed the huge pou, or pole.
The pou would be as tall as, or taller than New York’s Statue of Liberty, which is 46m high, and would be at the historic headland of Takaparawhau/Bastion Point.
The video, produced by Dunedinbased company Animation Research, shows the first proposal for the statue at Wynyard Point on the waterfront two years ago before the idea was picked up by Auckland iwi Ngati Whatua o Orakei.
Mr Taylor said he first became involved in the idea a couple of years ago when he spoke at a conference attended by a group of Maori carvers.
The group showed him the idea for a 50m pou it was considering made from kauri trees being killed by kauri dieback.
Instead of leaving them to die, they would bring them out and make the carving from them.
The carvers gave him the design and his company created a video of what it would look like in Auckland if it was ‘‘made the equivalent of our Statue of Liberty’’.
The idea was a statue of unity that would ‘‘bring all cultures together’’.
When Ngati Whatua o Orakei decided to consider the idea, it suggested Bastion Point for its home.
The Auckland Council committed $1 million for design and development
Mr Taylor said the iwi asked for a different design based on Papatuanuku the Earth Mother, which Animation Research put together.
That was done, but the iwi did not want to release it, which Mr Taylor supported.
He said the original video released this week was to give people an idea of what it could look like.
But Orakei councillor Desley Simpson said the video image released by Mr Taylor bore no resemblance to a second video concept shown to the mayor and councillors during the 10year budget process several months ago.
Cr Simpson said that video showed a tall statue at Bastion Point of a woman with a moko and wearing a cloak.
Mr Taylor said visuals helped people get behind the Dunedin waterfront project, and that was what Auckland needed.
‘‘There is a great vision, and the debate should be held.’’ — Additional reporting NZME