Interior

In the hotel world, what was once a quest for homogeneity (a Hilton used to look like a Hilton no matter where in the world it was) became a quest for unique experiences. This, in turn, led to our current style of hotel hospitality in which large brands subdivide, providing several types of smaller offerings with specific demographics in mind (the art hotel, the design hotel, the minimalist, the budget pod, etc.). Many, however, seem to be betting heavily on emulating context. Perhaps following the lead of Airbnb, modern-day hotels are hoping to distil the look and feel of the neighbourhoods or cities that surround them hence offering points of difference and unique experiences for visitors. What makes well-designed hotels so exciting is that they are, in a way, representations…

SHARON STEPHENSON Writer Sharon Stephenson writes for a range of magazines and newspapers from her Wellington home. She spent five years in London where she worked for the BBC but, for now, she’s happy to be home. For this issue, she wrote about Antipodes’ new headquarters and retail space (page 26). Tell us about your favourite aspects of the Antipodes headquarters and retail space. The sense of light and space is a welcome contrast to the company’s previous dark and segmented workspace. But, mainly, I admire the clever re-imagining of an iconic Wellington building that will serve customers and staff for years to come. What do you think are some of the most exciting things happening with sustainable design in New Zealand? I’m excited about the move to preserve and…

This recently unveiled pedestrian walkway in Melbourne called The Link connects the Chadstone Shopping Centre to the Hotel Chadstone Melbourne. Its main structure expands over 110 metres and is composed of ‘an Italian larch glulam diagrid structure’ with the awe-inspiring height of a century-old cathedral. Its canopy is made of a stretched industrial plastic that gives it its white, ribbed, husk-like top. On the ground, Make architects kept travelators, stairs and other features below eye level to maximise the full force of this 15-metre-high spectacle. Climbing plants – including Boston ivy and jasmine – punctuate one side, while a series of openings allows air to circulate naturally through the other, removing any need for air conditioning. The architects at Make have compared The Link to a harmonica: a seamlessly connected…

Kisho Kurokawa’s Nakagin Capsule Tower was, in Tokyo’s Shimbashi area in 1972, an uncompromising metabolist feat. Today, the office and residential project’s impressive stature is overshadowed by its sheer state of disrepair, looking, at a distance, like a long-abandoned game of Jenga. Rooms protrude out, damage permeates in. Yet the very nature of its design – a woven set of tiny, port-hole-like containers for living – warrants being mentioned in the wake of a global surge of small, high-density lodgings (be they permanent or nomadic). What Kurokawa’s masterpiece once shared with its present-day progeny was a futuristic aesthetic that felt at once of and beyond its times. In New Zealand, pod hotel chain Jucy Snooze, which entered the market in 2016, has achieved this with its bunk-bed-like capsules; marked in…

“The new bistro space has been designed to convey its own identity,” says David Morgan, co-director of CPRW architecture/design, who oversaw the project. “We needed to create a distinctly separate space – or at least the perception of one – both physically and aesthetically [from] the adjacent lounge and bar.” There’s a subtlety to the ways in which the bistro works to belong to the wider ‘Generator family’; oak panels with brass inlays mirror the site’s leather panels and a deliberately limited palette blends into the midst. cprw.co.nz…

Since 2015, the Brick Bay Folly competition has encouraged architects and architectural students to stretch their imaginations and design a folly – “a whimsical or extravagant structure”. This year, a new competition puts the focus on utility along with creativity. The Nohonga Design Challenge is a joint initiative between Brick Bay Sculpture Trust and the Auckland Branch of the New Zealand Institute of Landscape Architects Tuia Pito Ora. “The Brick Bay Folly is a much-anticipated event and this expands on that idea,” says Richard Didsbury, owner and director. “We want Auckland to be a great, liveable city that embraces creativity. The Nohonga Design Challenge is intended to stimulate conversation and ideas, and invite people to rethink what’s possible within the public realm.” This event was inspired by the City Benches…