New Zealand Commercial Design Trends Series NZ Commercial Design Trends Vol. 35/01C | Page 8

Project
No.1 Sylvia Park, Auckland
Developer:
Kiwi Property
Architect:
Architectus
NICELY PACKAGED
As the first stage of evolving Sylvia Park from a retail and entertainment centre to
a fully fledged mixed-use development, No.1 Sylvia Park office building has been
wrapped in eye-catching facades – like a beautifully packaged purchase
Go to a large shopping centre on a Saturday
morning and it may take a while to find a decent
parking space. So how does that square up with
the repeated pronouncements that bricks-and-
mortar retail is dead?
Add to that the amount of investment going into
improving and expanding major shopping centres
around the country, and it’s obvious some develop-
ers have a more lively view of the future of retail.
Greg Tolley, development manager at Kiwi
Property, says that there’s a flight to quality, and
that good shopping centres such as the company’s
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Sylvia Park operation are still trading well.
“People are social and they still want to get out
from behind their computers and have real life
experiences and interactions,” he says.
“But there has to be a reason to go to a centre,
so there needs to be a mix of facilities including
retail, food and beverage, movies, gyms and spe-
cialist outlets such as optometrists.”
Now there’s another reason for some people to
head to Sylvia Park – for work – with the completion
of office building No.1 Sylvia Park on the site.
“We’ve always had aspirations for Sylvia Park to
Previous pages and these
pages:Architectus’ design of the
first commercial office building at
Sylvia Park incorporates striking
facade treatments that give the
building a prominent presence
at the epicentre of the shopping
centre site. While retaining the
continuity of black and white
striations, the facades transition
from being relatively solid on the
south side, next to the motorway,
to highly transparent on the north
face, to take in the views.