New Zealand Commercial Design Trends Series NZ Commercial Design Trends Vol. 34/03C | Page 11

Previous pages and these
pages:At Wynyard Central, three
building types provide three
styles of home, while achieving
a sense of overall connection
through sympathetic materials.
The Apartments building has
timber soffits on its cantilevered
balconies – connecting to the
timber Pavilion building – while
its brick base links with the
Mason Bros building one way and
the Townhouses the other.
Nothing exists in isolation and that’s certainly
true of Wynyard Central in the Wynyard Quarter, on
Auckland’s waterfront, developed by Willis Bond
and designed by architectural firm Architectus.
This kind of upscale development has already
been a success story for Willis Bond & Co, with
the developer having been heavily involved in the
praised redevelopment of the Wellington waterfront.
Director of Willis Bond Roger Twose says one
of the reasons Architectus was brought on board
for Wynyard Central was because principal Patrick
Clifford had been involved in the visionary master
planning for the wider, high-profile brown field site –
one of the largest urban revitalisation programmes
ever undertaken in New Zealand.
This was documented in Wynyard Precinct: Urban
Design Framework. Led by the major landowner
Panuku Development Auckland, the vision was for ‘a
mix of residential, retail and commercial development
to enable the growth of a strong, diverse, resilient
and vibrant residential and business community’.
More than 500 new homes over five residential
sites are being introduced to the precinct as part of
this future planning, and Wynyard Central provides
113 of these.
In fact, Wynyard Central contributes to the
revitalisation of the Wynyard Precinct in two ways.
It offers a mix of inner-city residential options and