Finalists Announced for Queens Wharf

After thorough evaluation and assessment, five designs have been selected from the 237 original entries. View the finalists (design numbers 024, 046, 170, 195 and 216) in more detail below.

The Finalists

Design number 024 - Andrius Gedgaudas, Architect, Shanghai China.

The design offers a simple and strong public realm experience, with the potential for activities and uses beneath the inclined platform to be well related to adjacent public open spaces. Despite the stark simplicity of the proposal, the design would offer significant scope for the addition of other elements as patterns of use on Queens Wharf evolve over time. The contoured landscape feature will require further consideration in relation to the need for adaptable and robust event spaces. However, an abstract reinterpretation of landform which also accommodates everyday use and larger gatherings may be possible.

Design number 046 - Den Aitken, Pete Griffith and Hamish Foote, Field Landscape Architecture, Auckland.

The panel considered that although highly schematic, the submission presented a design approach with considerable potential. However, the proposal would need to be carefully developed and tested in response to the Stage 2 design brief. The basis for the proposed undulations within the promenade would need to be reviewed and clarified in the Stage 2 submission.

Design number 170 - David Gibbs and Aaron Sills, Construkt / SVB, Auckland.

The design establishes a major public open space across the full width of the northern portion of Queens Wharf, capable of being configured in a variety of ways. The panel questioned the proposal to partially enclose this space with structures comprising curved ribs and the proposal for an “urban beach” beyond the northern end of the wharf. The panel noted the variety of spatial conditions developed in a transverse east-west direction, and the potential to organize these in a sequential manner, in order to encourage pedestrian movement along the length of the wharf.

Design number 195 - John Coop, Tasman Studio, Auckland.

The proposal demonstrates how redevelopment of the wharf might positively inter-relate existing and new buildings. Building forms are bold and simple, and respond well to the scale and drama of the wharf and its setting.

Design number 216 - Simon Williams, Williams Architects Ltd, Auckland.

A covered pedestrian walkway extends for the length of the wharf, skirting the western face of the terminal building with opportunities to develop active edges. This walkway has been duplicated at an upper level and extends southwards to Customs Street. The panel questioned the merits of this feature, and of the water feature that extends the length of the wharf. The panel commended the use of simple sculptural forms for the terminal and the way in which the space at the northern end of the wharf connected to the water and engaged with the harbor setting.

View full details on the competition website