A boat above the water — but will it fly?
A building in the shape of a boat. A new museum to celebrate the “legends” of New Zealand history. A unique architectural monument. A magnet for visitors and a place to explore our own history. A brandnew museum proposal for the Auckland waterfront has been revealed today, exclusively to the Weekend Herald.
The LegendNZ Centre, which has no official status, has the look of a waka, although its creator, Lindsay Mackie of the architectural firm Archimedia, calls it a “universal vessel”.
“It could apply to any kind of boat,” he says, ” including a waka huia, a canoe, a yacht or a ship.” But he stresses that while its meaning is “in the eye of the beholder”, he wants it to be recognisably unique to New Zealand.
The centre is proposed for the northern end of Wynyard Point, where it would become a “worldclass multimedia museum and exhibition centre which celebrates the achievements of our greatest New Zealanders”.
The man who originally came up with the idea, Auckland environmental consultant Warwick Pascoe, says it would house what he calls “Fields of Endeavour”.
That includes the “Kiwi Edventure”, celebrating the life and works of Sir Edmund Hillary. America’s Cup campaigns and stories about “our greatest All Blacks”, soldiers, aviators, filmmakers, scientists and artists are also proposed .
Archimedia has conceived the building as an enormous wooden structure suspended above the ground, containing exhibition and education spaces, encased in glass, with a giant mast-like “mooring post” at one end and an anchor stone at the other.
Mackie and Pascoe believe it evokes “the metaphorical Ma¯ori creation myth, the separation of Ranginui (Sky Father/Roofworks) and Papatu¯a¯nuku (Earth Mother/ ground plane)”.
The building has five floors, including basement carparks, ground level arrival and restaurant, and three levels for exhibitions, offices and a large auditorium for performances, lectures and conferences. It’s planned to create a total floor area of 40,000 square metres, of which over 27,000sq m would be public space. That makes it smaller than Te Papa in Wellington, which has 35,000sq m of public exhibition space, but nearly three times the size of the Auckland Art Gallery.
Auckland Council’s planning committee chairman Chris Darby says the proposal “excites the senses and ignites imagination”. He believes Auckland has not had a “truly great” new public building that “anchors” us since the Auckland War Memorial Museum opened in the Domain in 1929.
Darby likes the positioning on Wynyard Point and says it has the potential to help the city with its “climate-resilient future”.
Mayor Phil Goff has been advised of the proposal but his office says he has not yet seen it.
The LegendNZ Centre is proposed for part of the “Tank Farm” land on Wynyard Point, currently leased for fuel storage. Those leases will soon expire. The land is owned by Auckland Council, which has a long-term plan to create a 4.5ha “waterfront park” and make the rest of the land available for commercial developments.
But there is no official plan for a new museum or similar public building anywhere on the site.
Wynyard Point is currently being used to prepare challenger bases for the America’s Cup campaign next summer. Those sites, along the eastern edge of the peninsula, will remain in place for as long as Team NZ holds the cup. Their future after that has not been decided.
This new proposal is a private initiative. Pascoe and Mackie say they expect to pick up support and develop a team to advance the idea.
Already on board is Bernard Makoare, a design and cultural consultant, but there is no formal iwi input. Ngarimu Blair of Nga¯ti Wha¯tua, the largest iwi in Ta¯maki Makaurau, told the Herald, “There hasn’t been any engagement with us”.
Pascoe says that’s something they know they need to work on.
Meanwhile, the port is building a multi-storey “car-storage facility” on Bledisloe Wharf, and debate over mooring “dolphins” for supercruisers, proposed for the north end of Queens Wharf, is before the Environment Court and thought unlikely to proceed. Pascoe and Mackie say they are keen to put the plan to the mayor and council.