Britomart architects let a little light into the City's living room

BERNARD ORSMAN talks to the architect behind Auckland's planned Britomart centre revamp.

In a multimillion-dollar take on television's Changing Rooms, a team of architects are redesigning Auckland's grimy old Chief Post Office at 12 Queen St into the city's living room.

Out go the accumulated fittings. Heritage features such as the ornate facade stay, and the floor will be lowered to ground level at Queen Elizabeth Square to create a feeling of grandeur.

Mario Madayag, the Californian architect selected to design the $261 million Britomart project, has a vision of turning the 1910 Post Office into the city's "living room," but one cool enough to be a tourist destination.

"If you don't set the tone from the first day people walk into the railway station, they will turn around and leave," says the architect.

His partner in the project, Greg Boyden of architectural firm Jasmax, says the alternative is a utilitarian underground concrete shell.

From the "Britomart bunker" in the Jasmax practice at the top of Queen St, 18 architects are coming up with anything but a utilitarian railway station at the other end of the city's main street. The first models and computer images reveal a glistening, ultra-modern station that builds on Auckland's botanical and geological features, the Victorian splendour of the old Chief Post Office and Maori references.

The "wow" factor will be diluted only by how much of the $261 million cost the Auckland City Council can rustle up. The council is putting in $145 million and seeking grants for $116 million from Infrastructure Auckland and Transfund.

The Post Office, hub of the train/bus/ferry transport terminal, looks much the same, albeit spruced up, from Queen Elizabeth Square.

Concerns of the Historic Places Trust over plans to lower the former postal chamber floor to ground level and take away the front steps are close to being resolved.

The main entrance, with its mosaic floor and green tiled walls - one of the main heritage features in the 1910 building - will be kept for access to three upper floors, each about 1700 sq m - large enough for a small hotel.

The rest of the postal chamber will be lowered and the portals on either side of the main entrance used as the entrance to the station.

At the back of the Post Office, escalators and stairs will take commuters down one level to the underground train station, with a curved waterfall on either side and a forest of bamboo.

The area will be covered by a giant canopy and drenched in natural light. The architects have dubbed this the "glasshouse." A drop-off and pick-up area has been set aside at the back of the Post Office for private cars.

Taxis will enter the station from Queen Elizabeth Square, and bus stops are dotted in the streets around the building.

The train station has four commuter tracks and one intercity track (with provision for two light rail tracks). It will be the only underground diesel station in the world, with huge extractor fans to remove smoky fumes.

The architects have come up with a woven stainless steel mesh to drape around the hard concrete shell in a curved pattern they liken to a wharenui, or meeting house.

Along the length of the 150m underground station will be a series of light portals that rise like volcanic cones into a new walkway, known as Ta Huhu St, which runs from the back of the Post Office towards Britomart Place. Again, this is to let in natural light.

The four-block precinct behind the Post Office, with its collection of dilapidated heritage buildings, will be developed into an urban village.

The old buildings and six development sites cover about 84,000 sq m - nearly three times the size of St Lukes shopping centre - with extra space for about 710 car parks.

Eventually the area will be a bustling village with tree-lined pedestrian walkways for up to 2000 office workers and 1000 apartment dwellers.

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