'Wall of mediocrity' to obscure arena access

The $80 million Auckland City Arena is being hidden behind a wall of mediocre commercial buildings and is another lost opportunity to improve the civic qualities of the city, says the Institute of Architects' urban issues group.

Chairman Graeme Scott says a major civic project such as the arena should have space round it and views to signify its public importance, but the council was doing the opposite.

The group has been lobbying the council for a year to buy a triangular piece of land on Beach Rd to preserve the view and approach route to the front of the arena. Planning director Jill McPherson said the council looked at the idea and concluded it was too expensive.

A compromise 6m-wide walkway was not what a "major public building like this deserves", Mr Scott said.

"It is scarcely believable that a major public facility, involving $70 million of public money, should be buried behind a wall of mediocre commercial developments. The side of the arena will be highly visible from Quay St, but that is not where the main access is from.

"Its setting in the urban fabric must be clear and memorable, like the Town Hall or the Civic Theatre."

The 12,000-seat indoor arena is being built at Quay Park on the waterfront under a public-private partnership between the council and a Sydney company, Jacobsen Venue Management.

The council is putting $66.4 million into the $80 million project and a further $3 million to upgrade pedestrian links along Quay St and Beach Rd. The arena is due for completion in December or January.

It is the city's most significant new public building since the Aotea Centre opened in 1990.

Mr Scott said this was the latest planning flaw at Quay Park. Other mistakes on the old railway land were the "tacky" commercial strip at the eastern end and no defined pattern to organise developments and integrate them into the city fabric.

"In Melbourne they demolish buildings to create view shafts to public spaces. We haven't even started building [on this site] so it is not too late."

He said the main approach to the arena, which has only 164 public carparks, would be from Britomart via Beach Rd because pedestrian access through the Scene Apartments and the rear of the Foodtown supermarket "has been so poorly designed that it is unlikely to be used in any significant way".

"Those walking to the arena along Beach Rd will have to rely on signs at the narrow access points to lead them into the arena site because they won't be able to see it from there. These access points are certain to be clogged with cars and buses dropping off visitors.

"In contrast, the Wellington stadium is a superbly visible landmark with well-designed pedestrian and rail access," Mr Scott said.

Preserving the view shaft to the arena could be the issue for Mayor Dick Hubbard's mayoral taskforce on urban design to establish its credentials.

"It will be a real black mark if the taskforce just writes another report," said Mr Scott.

The chairwoman of the council's environment, heritage and urban form committee, Christine Caughey, said it was the first she had heard of the proposal but she supported in principle protecting views of public amenities.