KEY POINTS:
Wow. Here in this picture is the answer, I think, to Auckland's dreams.
It is an artist's impression of the tentatively chosen design for a lifting bridge at the entrance to the Viaduct Harbour, linking it with a planned waterfront development to the west, known as Wynyard Quarter.
Sometimes I'm in awe of architects, especially when they produce a design that is not just stunningly right for its location but so obvious that I would never have thought of it.
What could be more elemental to the Viaduct than tall yachts? They were the very reason for its redevelopment. And what in this world is more elegant than a modern America's Cup sail?
The "sail" on the right would be a permanently standing lifting tower, the two "leaves" would be lowered to provide the bridge.
It is not clear who deserves the credit for this inspiration, probably no individual for it was not a sudden conception. The Auckland City Council started the design procedure in March last year, appointing a panel led by Auckland University architecture professor John Hunt to select a design team.
International bids were attracted and the panel shortlisted seven, inviting them to prepare joint proposals. Among the seven, the Herald's Bernard Orsman reported on Thursday, were designs resembling an eel trap, a fantail and a gull with outstretched wings. The panel then narrowed the bidding parties down to two and invited them to do further work. Each group produced a design, one the "twin leaf" standing bridge, the other a swing bridge.
The panel has chosen the upright option, the combined work of a team from Wellington (Hyder Consulting), Melbourne (Denton Corker Marshall Design) and Britain (Kenneth Grubbs and Associates).
This surely fills the bill for the "iconic building" Auckland planners want for the waterfront though it is not at their envisaged site, the end of the western reclamation presently occupied by the tank farm.
But it will be 25 years before that harbour promontory might be available. In the meantime, this position is prominent enough. The "twin leaf" bridge, as the designers call it, would need to be at least 40m tall to bridge the Viaduct entrance and could be strikingly visible from points around the Waitemata.
It's movements could be as spectacular as its standing profile. Engineers, I suspect, could make the sail-shaped sections move into position with the flourishes of a tacking yacht.
Exciting is a word that has been devalued in descriptions of architecture and civic design but this time it is true.
The city council's project planners are containing their excitement until a small matter of finance is clarified. The council had budgeted about $37 million for a retractable bridge from what it calls "Te Wero Island" to Halsey St. Most of the amount is supposed to be raised in transport development contributions levied on the Wynyard Quarter.
But the chosen design carried an estimated bill of $46 million and an independent assessment has now raised that to $51.8 million. Transport planners, who want to run buses across the bridge, think they can reduce the cost a little by making it a single lane.
And they hope national taxpayers, through the NZ Transport Authority, will contribute more than half the price.
Until this stunning design appeared in the paper on Thursday, I thought it a pity the planners wanted to bridge the Viaduct entrance, even with a movable structure. A bridge would be lowered more often than not, raised only at appointed times for boats to enter.
The pleasant semi-open aspect of the Viaduct will be lost.
But it is disastrous for the Viaduct, I think, that they are planning this bridge for buses.
Allowing vehicles to run along the new waterfront from Quay St to the western reclamation will destroy the pleasant area outside the maritime museum where the big boat stands in its high cradle and people mill about.
The front of the Viaduct would become a street and the whole area just another urban block.
And for what? The Viaduct does not need bus stops closer than Fanshawe St, and the planned Wynyard Quarter residents will not particularly need a bus route direct to Quay St.
Let the "sail bridge", as Aucklanders might name it, be restricted to pedestrians, and cyclists if they must. A footbridge would seem sufficient to entice people to stroll from the Viaduct to Jellicoe St where the fish market is already an attraction and more cafes and bars can be envisaged when the street is opened to the harbour. The cost should come from the Auckland Regional Council, not the city or national taxpayers. This is an Auckland project and all of the region will benefit.
And this is one ARC ratepayer who would happily pay his share, for the emblem Auckland needs and its harbour deserves.
