Johnny Hendrikus/WellingtonNZ
Artworks by Xoë Hall, Miriama Grace-Smith and Gina Kiel has been commissioned to add visual vibrancy to areas in the central city currently in a state of flux, like the central library. Miriama Grace-Smith took inspiration from Lyall Bay surf beach, Zealandia, fruit and veggie markets, and deep-sea diving. Xoë Hall’s work was based on the local legend of the taniwha, Ngake and Whataitai, who shaped the Wellington harbour while trying to break free to the ocean. Only one of them made it – the other got stuck, becoming Hataitai Hill.
Xoe Hall/SUPPLIED
Xoë Hall is also the artist behind the David Bowie mural on Ghuznee St, commissioned by Jam Hairdressing. (File photo)
STUFF
The Bank of New Zealand is taking the Wellington City Council to court over the damage to a building in the 2016 Kaikōura quake.
A damages claim for more than $101 million against Wellington City Council over the now deconstructed Bank of New Zealand building on the waterfront has been revealed during a related court case. Wellington City Council (WCC) is being sued for more than $101m by banking giant BNZ for negligence over granting the building consent and issuing a code compliance certificate. However, council chief executive, Barbara McKerrow, says the council doesn’t believe it has any liability.
by Lindsay Shelton
Strange but true. Books are not mentioned in any of the “design and service principles” for redeveloping Wellington’s Central Library which were announced last week.
The city council’s decision includes extending the top two floors of the Library (adding $8.5m to the cost), and putting three more council organisations into the building: iSite, Capital E, and the City Archive.
But when the bigger, rearranged Library reopens, will it still be focused on books? There was a magnificent collection of more than 400,000 of them in the building, which attracted more than a million visitors every year before it was so hastily closed. And there’s not one word about them in any of the four design and service principles “which will shape the development of services within the Library, and influence design decisions”.
Wellington City Council voted on Thursday to add an $8.5 million extension of Te Matapihi, which would add an additional 880 square metres of floor space to the building and add approximately three months to the construction process. The third and fourth floors will be extended across the existing roofline by adding an 8-metre extension for each floor.
Ross Giblin/Stuff
Te Matapihi has been closed since March 2019 due to earthquake risk. Council officers’ advice stated the benefits of the proposal would be the minimal visual impact, its low risk from a resource consent perspective and the ability for rooftop space to be retained for other uses such as a rooftop garden.