Rae Storey: At last, our chance for a Grand Design

How incredibly lucky we are that Auckland has a site like Wynyard Wharf ready for redevelopment, and in public hands, at just this point in our history.

It is good to be fretting after the right vision for it with the right building.

But we, the public, must make sure the Ports Authority know we want it used for great public purposes. What if Sydney had used its similar site for houses, commerce, and making money for the sewage works instead of its Opera House?

Space should be given generously, in the spirit of the early Aucklanders who gave us the Domain and Albert Park. It should be devoted to enjoyment, not focused on buying and selling.

The focal point should be a breathtaking building, iconic in its form, telling us and visitors about our city and country - a place to which everyone would beat a path. Not something we already have, but something unique, something that says "Yes" to a great idea of who we are becoming.

How about a museum of design, New Zealand design? Everything from Trelise Cooper to innovative industrial design, with interactive opportunities for all ages that would invite participants to share the attitudes and exploration of designers.

Wouldn't that encapsulate just what we want to claim and celebrate and promote for our city and country right now?

A design museum might attract generous gifts of exhibits and help from the designers chosen to be represented.

As to the design of the building itself, we have plenty of talented architects among us.

The right architect might be David Mitchell, described by some as the "the grand old man of New Zealand architecture".

This brilliant, quirky and very New Zealand architect - who has been awarded the Institute of Architects' Gold Medal - is already on Auckland's urban design panel and is bursting with ideas.

What we don't need is an international competition for a design. It is time to make this Our Place if possible, and with this senior yet innovative architect ready it is possible.

One man's vision is probably the missing ingredient in the overall planning of the entire site. We don't need the high seriousness of a Wren or a Haussmann, we need attitudes, insights and pleasures that have grown out of our culture but are bigger and more daring than the ordinary.

Tirau has Geoff Thompson. We have David Mitchell.

As to the funding, I think Aucklanders would open their purse-strings if a vision of the city heart caught their imagination, belief and pride.

There may be wealthy citizens who would love to feel that some part of this was their gift to their city.

And citizens such as myself would give a good donation towards some installation there that we valued.

Such a sense of ownership in the city has not been evident in our time because there has been nothing to stir it.

John Logan Campbell felt his awesome land gift was the best thing he had done in his life. Governor Grey and others in the early years gave gifts that showed a vision of Auckland far beyond its size and character at the time and which are still the measure of Auckland as a city.

It is time we did some city-making ourselves. Let's not be too serious, let's not be just grey and elderly.

We should ask what the opportunities are and make sure we pick them up.

Wynyard Point should be a place for gathering and celebrating, for being solitary, for observing, for enjoying pleasures of the water, the climate, enjoying the sunset with a friend after work.

This would be a perfect place for summer nightlife by the water - and in our gentle winter too.

I would like to see a building for concerts and dancing, with moveable walls and a flow-to-outside floor. Many of the immigrant cultures dance when they are in celebration mode. So would everyone else around if there were Polynesian music playing and a dancefloor.

Think of the great cities you have visited.

They often have a wonderful place that you remember forever, not just because they are beautiful or afford great pleasures, but because they speak of particular temperaments, enjoyment, and a special community that lifts your heart and refreshes your life.

Walking across the Charles Bridge in fairytale Prague, spending an evening in the Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen, following the spiral walkway through the Guggenheim Museum in New York - people cross the world for those experiences, or discover them with an unforgettable thrill.

Aucklanders, this is our moment, and the Wynyard Point part of the waterfront is Our Place.

* Rae Storey is a Remuera woman who works in cultural development and education and who has enjoyed many of the world's great cities.