It's in this really green space in the heart of the city ... get up into the building and it's like you're surrounded by trees.
Paul Brown, architectOnce an office block, an elliptical building in the university and hospital precinct in central Auckland ticked all the residential boxes for architect Paul Brown.
"Unlike most office buildings, it sits by itself so it hasn't got tall buildings around and it's got good outlook and views.
"If you look from Grafton Bridge across, there's lots of green spaces. The idea was, this is a great opportunity to put residential apartments in because of the outlook that is afforded in all directions."
Each apartment will have two bedrooms, with only four apartments on each floor, and the price comes with a car park and freehold unit title.
The building was constructed in the late 1980s at nine floors high but is being increased to 16 floors. A complete strip and re-clad of the exterior will take place. "It's good re-use of a building, it's got a good existing structure," says Paul.
It's an easy walk to Queen St and views will take in Rangitoto Island and across Grafton gully to Grafton Bridge.
"So you've got the cemetery to the south of it, you know, you've got the oak trees in the cemetery, which is a great outlook across those," says Paul.
"What's really nice is it's in this really green space in the heart of the city.
"When you get up into the building it seems like you're just surrounded by trees."
The fundamentals of the building appealed to the architect.
Image 1 of 4: Close to the action, quiet and with amazing views. These apartments represent smart buying
"The floor plate's interesting because it's not a sort of rectilinear floor plate, so you end up doing some interesting spaces rather than just your standard rectilinear boring square things ... there's more interest in your planning than you'd normally see in an apartment building, more variety."
There is an abundance of natural light, which gives flexibility around living and bedroom spaces, and a bonus is the addition of balconies to each apartment.
"They're that European idea of you opening the doors up and extending the living room out into the balcony rather than it being a separate space.
"It gives you that indoor-outdoor feeling and we've got those off bedrooms and living rooms."
Designing the interiors was about ensuring enough space so everything worked.
"We're big on being functional when it comes to interiors; that you've got wardrobes, that laundries are in bathrooms so that they're out of the living spaces, that you've got galley kitchens, not just a minimal kitchen.
"Also, trying to avoid the bedrooms opening directly off the living room, so having them open off a little lobby off the living room so there's more privacy in the bedroom."
Although the building is elliptical, the interior walls are not; however, some are angled.
Paul says this gives more scope in terms of fitting in storage in nooks and crannies, or opportunities for where furniture could go. He has carefully considered the lobby, too, in order to create a great "front door".
"It's important that apartment buildings have good entry lobbies because when you come in, that sets the feeling for the quality of the building as a whole, so those common spaces need to be well designed and specified to a high standard."
The apartments are being developed for the local market and Paul says buyers will get good bang for their buck.
A thriving K Rd is also just around the corner and anyone who works in the city has the added bonus of being able to pop home instead of buying expensive lunches -- "if you can pop home for lunch you'll probably save the cost of purchasing the apartment".
