Twenty-four secret trap doors are embedded in the new ASB Waterfront Theatre’s stage floor, allowing objects as big as a grand piano to magically appear before the 668 patrons, a project boss says.
The Herald was yesterday taken on the first media tour of the $35 million Wynyard Quarter theatre opening later this year at the Halsey St/Madden St intersection.
Alun Larsen, Hawkins Construction project manager, showed how the trap doors formed the ceiling of a ground-level room where equipment could be hauled in for a big surprise.
“All these trap doors can be opened at once. You could have someone on a grand piano below the floor, coming up,” Larsen said, telling how each square or trap door could be independently operated, or else a giant chasm could be opened under the stage if all the trap doors were opened simultaneously.
A Glen Innes community centre, the ''Big Pinkie'' office block, the new $35 million waterfront theatre and stylish new houses tonight won top architectural awards.
Lynda Simmons, convener of the jury which judged the New Zealand Institute of Architects' Auckland area awards, said 45 buildings won.
That was 13 more than last year, she said and altogether, 64 projects made the shortlist.
"It was encouraging to see successful public and educational buildings that show how good architecture can be a type of social glue, strengthening existing communities," she said.
"This year's award winners show how architects are providing sophisticated solutions to often complex problems," she said, naming the Britomart area as a zone which had kick-started the revitalisation of downtown Auckland and the Wynyard Quarter as undergoing a great transformation.
The building boom which has gripped Auckland lately was reflected in the awards, announced at the new ASB Waterfront Theatre, which itself scooped awards for the local Moller Architects and Australia's BVN.
Image 1 of 14: Commercial - Mason Bros Finalist in the 2017 Auckland Architecture Awards Photo supplied to the New Zealand Herald
The Glen Innes' community centre Te Oro by Archimedia Group won a public architecture award. The ''Big Pinkie'' office block, SAP Tower, formerly the Fay Richwhite tower, at 151 Queen St won an award for Peddle Thorp Aitken.
Fearon Hay Architects won for its Kauri Timber Building on Fanshawe St, Warren and Mahoney for work on the Mason Bros building in the Wynyard Quarter and for the stylish Quad 7 on Leonard Isitt Drive at Auckland Airport.
The new $35m ASB Waterfront Theatre on Halsey St in the Wynyard Quarter.
Moller Architects, in association with BVN, won for the Wynyard Quarter's new ASB Waterfront Theatre on Halsey St, praised for having street level walls which peel back by day to engage with passing public yet able to transform into a lantern-lit theatre at night, and having technically competent backstage and support areas to enable high-quality productions.
Strachan Group Architects won for new commercial premises and picked up an award in the residential category.
Jasmax won for the AUT Manu Hira Building and Architectus for St Peter's College's Outhwaite Building.
Auckland's 'Big Pinkie' or SAP Tower at 151 Queen St which won an enduring architecture award.
Peddle Thorp won a heritage award for work on Britomart's Australis Nathan building. McKinney + Windeatt won for creating Amano, the nearby Britomart restaurant.
Harris Butt Architecture won a heritage award for alterations to the Waitangi Visitor Centre in the Bay of Islands.
Cheshire Architects won for Waiheke's Tantalus Estate.
Quad 7 at Auckland International Airport, an architecture award winner.
Herbst Architects won for a Bethells Beach bach. Other housing awards went to Stachan Group Architects, Mercer & Mercer Architects, Fearon Hay Architects, Gerrard Hall Architects, Rosso Design, Glamuzina Architects and Paterson Architecture Collection, Vaughan McQuarrie, Patterson Architects, Guy Tarrant Architects, Dorrington Atcheson Architects, Bull O'Sullivan Architecture, Wendy Shacklock Architects, Matter, Ashton Mitchell, Stevens Lawson and Warren and Mahoney.
The Bishop Selwyn Chapel in Auckland's Parnell.
Parnell's Bishop Selwyn Chapel won Fearon Hay Architects a public architecture award: "Seamless in planning and structure, this pavilion with its floating, delicate gold ceiling appears to be held lightly against Charles Towle's existing brickwork cathedral, avoiding its touch," the jury noted.
