Via Arch Daily: Our inspiration for this project was drawn directly from the fusion of natural landscape, urban form and heritage of cultural exchange and flow that characterise this beautiful site at the edge of the campus, overlooking Auckland Harbour and the Auckland Domain. Prior to modern development this landscaped valley used to be known for the stream, Waipapa that flowed directly into the Harbour, and it was near this stream that early European settlers traded with the Ngati Whatua tribes. An equal inspiration was the ambition of the University to create a new centre for learning, innovation, a place of knowledge exchange and collaboration for future leaders.
We developed architectural forms that open through a series of organic flowing ribbons in a gesture of invitation, outreach and optimism, gathering the energy of the site into a major new public square. These layered glass and stainless steel planes are carefully composed to orientate and join the forms and internal volumes of the new building to significant landscape elements. The central atrium and internal gathering space is directed out between the two largest ribbons to connect with the natural landscape of the Auckland Domain, the northern figural ‘head’ is turned to look directly towards the Harbour and Rangitoto Island while terminating the axial vista of Wynyard Street.
These organic and flowing forms are suspended above a solid podium that anchors the building and reinterprets the natural topography of the immediate sloping site. This counterbalancing podium form is joined spatially with the suspended ribbons at the atrium heart of the new complex, interconnecting the shared teaching spaces with the workplace, learning and social spaces of the Business School. Read the full article over on Arch Daily.