Andrew Barclay has worked on high-profile projects such as Auckland Airport Novotel, the MIT technology campus and the NZICC. Photo / NZ Herald
Andrew Barclay has worked on high-profile projects such as Auckland Airport Novotel, the MIT technology campus and the NZICC. Photo / NZ Herald
Abundance of projects makes Auckland’s present transformation one of the fastest in its history.
Auckland is undergoing one of the most rapid transformations in its history, says a leading architect.
Andrew Barclay, Warren and Mahoney's principal, executive director and design director, cites the Wynyard Quarter, plans for the new 36-level Downtown waterfront tower, SkyCity's NZ International Convention Centre, Auckland University's expansion, the City RailLink, AUT's city campus moves and Mansons TCLM's plans for the NZME site, as transformative projects.
"These things all point towards Auckland being a much more mature city in a remarkably short time, yet they all have a long gestation period," Barclay says, referring to the city's trajectory. "Auckland has a lot to look forward to, when you consider the changes from 2010 and what will have happened by 2020."
But his first taste of Auckland was less than appealing.
Born in Chesterfield, England, in 1956, he says he was "transported — and I use that term deliberately because that's how it felt — to the other side of the world. I arrived aged 9 on the Oriana, looking out over the rails at Auckland Harbour and I thought 'where the hell have I come to?'" he says.
"In 1964, it really did feel like we had gone to the very, very, very end of the Earth. I was not impressed and then my father died shortly after that."
His fitter and turner father had worked in British coal mines and after the family migrated, as an aviation mechanic for the National Airways Corporation, initially in Wellington, then Christchurch.
An artist's impression of the Sky City National Convention Centre and the Albion Hotel on the corner of Hobson St and Wellesley St in Auckland CBD.
"It was tough and I've often thought that if I had stayed in England, would I have become an architect? The answer is probably no," he says.
Barclay's work now includes the NZICC, the blueprint for the Christchurch rebuild, the new Justice precinct there and involvement in Precinct's Downtown tower.
But he emphasised he was not working alone but in teams including other Warren and Mahoney staffers, other New Zealand architecture practices and often overseas firms.
Asked about the most satisfying project he had worked on, Barclay pointed to a Christchurch building now under construction.
"It's not the building, it's the planning — the Justice and Emergency Services Precinct — where we collaborated with two other firms.
"It's a $240 million building, a huge piece of kit and it will be unique in the world, combining the courts, police and surrounding emergency services. It's most of the block bounded by Tuam, Lichfield, Colombo and Durham streets."
The Auckland Airport Novotel. Photo / Dean Purcell
He cites the new Manukau Institute of Technology building and the NZICC as two of the most important projects he has worked on which are "both really satisfying".
The MIT building took advantage of the existing train station and combined public space with education areas, which Barclay said was a winning formula. "These areas needed to interact with each other.
"The NZICC is technically an enormously demanding building, a complicated building that has taken a lot of resolution. I'm clear on what's going to make it a good building," he says, referring to an inside-out transparency to benefit conference delegates, pedestrians and passersby.
"Several things about it will be truly unique for a convention centre in the world and will ensure its success. It will be the only convention centre I can think of that you can truly engage with the function of the building as a pedestrian," Barclay says.
"SkyCity has been very clear this is a building you can engage with as an Aucklander, you're not shut out of the activity of the building.
The Manukau Institute of Technology campus in Manukau, Auckland. Photo / Nick Reed
"Also from the hirers' point of view ... you have the ability to express your brand and activities to the whole city, not just the delegates.
"Convention centres are usually a black box with no transparency," he says.
They are more often placed on city fringes or in industrial areas due to high CBD land values.
"This is the first time we've ever spoken about the project from an architectural perspective.
"It's easy to underestimate what's been achieved because the project relies on solving these big issues rather than imposing a piece of flamboyant geometry on the city," Barclay says.
"The latest design is not in the public arena but the fundamental arrangement has not changed."
80 Queen St, one of Andrew Barclay's projects. Photo / NZ Herald
Asked about his southern connections, Barclay says he lived in Christchurch from the age of about 10 until he was 42 and the Christchurch-founded Warren and Mahoney has strong commitments to that city "on the ground, with 80 people in Christchurch and in Auckland 90 people".
Auckland Airport Novotel and 80 Queen St are other high-profile projects Barclay has worked on.
"New Zealand architects are as good as any in the world and we as a firm are interested in working at a Pacific regional level, based on a sense that we now know we can be competitive in the world."
Warren and Mahoney has been so successful that it has outgrown two Auckland sites including Dock St and will soon move to the Wynyard Quarter's Mason Brothers building.
Andrew Barclay says Auckland has a lot to look forward to. Photo / Dean Purcell
• Principal, executive director and design director, Warren and Mahoney.
