©1968
2024
The proposed site bridges across the land and into the Waitemata, our harbour in Tāmaki Makaurau (Auckland), surrounded by natural volcanoes of Rangitoto, Takarunga and Maungauika. As they view these landscape elements as ancestors, Māori are Aotearoa’s natural environmental guardians. Only with the engagement and agreement with mana whenua can we authentically locate a building within the landscape.
Client
The Auckland Waterfront Consortium
Location
Quay Street, Auckland
The entire stadium is sunk into the harbour and sea floor to be level with the wharf and downtown streets, avoiding creating a stadium’s usual impenetrable wall, and preserving views of the volcanic landforms.
We adopted the phrase ‘never see Adele in the rain again’ as a design principle. The Stadium roof is lifted on giant pilotis, creating a traditional Pacific pavilion form. The seaward edges provide a broad promenade of steps to the water’s edge, creating an urban beach. Public space is privileged to all edges with a large waterfront park adjacent to the stadium.
