Brian Rudman: Scruffy old sheds won't be next wonder of world

On the sweeping terrace of the Sydney Opera House on a balmy night last week, sipping from a real glass of wine and enjoying the magical vistas, I couldn't help thinking how half-baked we tend to do things in Auckland. In Sydney, when a breathtaking waterfront site came available, they built themselves an architectural wonder of the world. In my home town, all we can come up with is a plan to tart up two collapsing cargo sheds. But is it any surprise when we can't even organise a civilised interval drink at our opera house equivalent.

Compared with the SOH, The Edge's wine is more expensive - unless you risk the mini-bottle rotgut- and you're forced to sup it out of an undersized piece of picnic-set plastic. That's if you manage to get to the front of the bar scrum in time to buy it.

In Sydney, some brave politicians appreciated the once-in-a-lifetime chance they had, and went for broke. Despite much controversy, they created an entertainment complex and an architectural statement worthy of their world-class waterfront. In Auckland we have a similarly blessed site and a similar narrow window of opportunity. Yet all we can aspire to, from the Prime Minister down, is to renovate a couple of crappy old corrugated-iron sheds as cheaply as possible.

Sadly, the New Zealand Institute of Architects has embraced this underwhelming project, backing plans for a public competition seeking ideas.

"These buildings are readily capable of forming part of a high-quality functional installation that will make a real contribution to the Auckland waterfront and to the new public place at Queens Wharf," say the architects in a statement "strongly supporting" the redevelopment plans.

It is a letter that shows all the vision of a self-interested trade union boss trying to butter up an employer in a bid to score a few jobs for his membership. No doubt architects are suffering in these recessionary times, but one might have thought that in the case of this unique site, the professional organisation also had a duty to the people of Auckland to look a little further than the next meal ticket for one of its members.

Architects are usually the first to set themselves up as the high priests of vision in any debate on Auckland's urban form. But now, when the situation is crying out for the professionals to stand up and say Auckland deserves a structure worthy of its unique site, they're too busy cuddling in bed with the visionless, penny-pinching politicians.

This is a once-in-100-years chance to make our mark at the traditional gateway to Auckland. It coincides with the birth of a new united city structure. It's a perfect excuse for doing something special. But instead, we're about to default once more to Auckland's special contribution to architecture, the school of facadism.

No doubt the Queens Wharf sheds can be adapted. The Sydney Theatre Co built a home on a finger wharf at Walsh Bay for A$3.7 million ($4.6 million) in the early 1980s and at Woolloomooloo a massive covered finger wharf has been turned into a mixed hotel/apartment complex with actor Russell Crowe its most famous resident.

But neither of these jetties occupies a prime spot at the foot of Sydney's main street. They're more akin to Auckland's Tank Farm. The existing structures in Sydney also covered all, or most, of the respective wharfs. They defined their spaces. But in the case of Queens Wharf, the sheds are just that, two tatty old undistinguished sheds adrift on a large open space. They need bowling and replacing with something more befitting the premium space, and the occasion - Auckland's civil union.

When the design contest opens, the best form of protest would be to submit entries that ignore the sheds and, for that matter, ignore the restrictive requirement for a building which incorporates an overseas cruise ship passenger terminal. Princes Wharf was ruined by trying to design a combined passenger ship/hotel complex, so why are we risking a repeat of that disaster. Let the port company sort out the existing Princes Wharf facilities. Or put them on Bledisloe.

I'm looking forward to contest entries which exploit to the fullest the wharf's premier site and send a message to our timorous political leaders that they can't ignore.