What of the ex-Auckland Star site, vacant for 36 years? the design of a champion Te Arai home is detailed by architects; details are out on the Takapuna Beach Holiday Park and the problems of birds and buildings: all in today’s Property
Debate on ex-Auckland Star site; architects explain champion Te Arai home design; Takapuna camp upgrade details; birds and apartments – Property Insider
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Opinion by Anne Gibson
Anne Gibson, Property Editor for New Zealand's Herald, has been writing about real estate since 1985 and is a skilled and knowledgeable journalist with deep insights into property as well as other businesses.
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Brealey said there was no point in a residential project because it was not financially feasible.
Nor were offices.
“If you are a hotel developer, yeah, maybe. Well-located for cruise ship and NZICC trade. Don’t need a carpark ratio that would push you into building an expensive basement,” Brealey said.
“Yeah, that’s it. A 200- to 300-room, four-star hotel above with retail and a through-site link filled with bars and restaurants below.
“An extension to Britomart but at a more competitive price point.”
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BusinessDesk reported two years ago that the site was last sold in April 2014 for $26 million. Heng Chuang Investment Group is listed as the owner. That company is owned by HC Investment Trustee of Victoria Ave, Remuera.
“Somebody, please build something here – anything,” said one commenter on Crosby’s post.
The Star offices were demolished in 1989, so the site has been vacant for 36 years.
Champion Te Arai home
Architects Monk Mackenzie scooped an Auckland regional award last week from Te Kāhui Whaihanga New Zealand Institute of Architects (NZIA) for the new Palimpsest House near the sea at Te Arai.
This is one of four projects the practice has designed at Te Arai Links, north of Auckland.
The new home on Te Ara O Kiri Patuparaoa Anake is owned by a person involved in finance in Auckland, property records show.
The architects explained in their NZIA entry that a palimpsest is a “form that embodies writing, erasure and rewriting, a structure layered with memory, where each intervention builds upon the traces of what came before”.
This house was called palimpsest, a word the architects explained as “a memory of experience, an intentional play on movement between contrasting conditions. It carries the imprint of the site – a trace of the beach once experienced -while also registering the ongoing erosion, transition, and geomorphological change at its edges”.
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Hicks Construction built it, RLB were the quantity surveyors, Planning Focus did the applications for consents and other regulatory work, Engeo did the geotechnical work, Climate Control did the mechanical services and the landscaping was by RTB and Jared Lockhart Design.
The architects’ description of the work referred to unique architectural elements. The approach through a dense, tree-lined forest compressed movement and filtered light, culminating in the sudden openness of the beach.
“The flicker of light through silhouetted trees, followed by the sharp, illuminated line of the horizon, creates a dramatic spatial and perceptual transition,” their award entry said.
The house is both nestled and elevated, hovering above the building platform.
“It acts as a counterpoint: both courtyard and pavilion. A compressed yet gradual shift emerges between a heightened sense of enclosure to the west and an open, expansive orientation to the east.”
As one moves through the thick, curved, black-silhouetted walls toward the projected openness of the eastern end, the experience of threshold and transition becomes blurred and informal.
Spaces remain connected, yet subtly subvert expectation, gradually transforming from one condition to another as you move across the house.
“The project was conceived as a weekend retreat for a small Auckland-based family, designed to be shared with friends and loved ones, and intended to endure across generations.”
Located along the Te Arai coastline, the elevated site is perched on dunes overlooking the Pacific with uninterrupted views of the horizon.
The surrounding landscape is defined by rugged coastal contours, soft undulating dunes and an extensive pine forest, creating a unique juxtaposition between land and sea.
The pine forest, with its vertical, regimented trunks and dappled light, introduces distinctive textures and light conditions to the site, which spans across a hectare of rolling sand dunes. The trees serve as a natural windbreak, moderating the coastal conditions.
An interplay of natural elements between forest and beach offers a compelling context. The house responds to the openness of the sea while drawing warmth and intimacy from the surrounding woodland.
The natural context of the site is a balance of exposure and shelter, vastness and enclosure, which is intentionally echoed in the architectural response, the architects said.
The site within Te Arai Links requires compliance with the Te Arai South design guidelines.
These covenants require the building to sit within a prescribed platform designated for each site with a maximum building coverage of 1000sq m and a maximum height of 8m above a nominated ground datum.
The covenants also prescribe aspects of the architectural character required for the development, reviewed by a panel to ensure that each site achieves an approach which is subservient to the dominant topography of the immediate landscape and colour saturation compatible with the immediate landscape context.
The roof is limited to natural timber, formed steel, green-roof system, membrane roofing or a combination of systems. The roof pitch must be no greater than 27.5 degrees.
A low-lying roof to meet this requirement was achieved in a combination of membrane and profiled metal with a sculptural aluminium perimeter.
Exterior cladding is typically limited to natural timber, light, fair-face precast concrete, steel cladding systems and natural stone but the design committee must approve it.
“The use of dark textured concrete was not in strict compliance with the design guidelines, however, the poetic reference to the pine trees and coherence with the site allowed for this material to be approved,” the architects said.
A refined yet durable material palette responds directly to the natural surroundings. Precast concrete walls with a scalloped texture echo the rhythm of the surrounding pine tree trunks. The textured surface and tint reference the darkness of bark, adding depth and character while achieving a low-maintenance exterior.
Hovering above the dunes, the concrete slab with a sculptural tapering underside was coloured to match the surrounding sand.
That further connected the architecture to the site.
Steel and concrete timber construction form the levitating square roof. The fascia and soffit are finished with Resene Sandtex, applied to match the warmth and texture of the parallel concrete slab below and the sand it sits above.
The remainder of the plan is delineated with sweeping glazed doors which allow for the outlook to be fully appreciated towards the horizon.
Blurring the threshold between the interior and exterior, a continuous slab and ceiling finish is achieved between both.
Internally, the distinctive precast concrete panels carry through seamlessly to define the northern and southern passages. Full-height oak panelling and cabinetry form a silky counterpoint to the rugged concrete. The wire-brushed timber grain adds a natural element and softness to the palette, accented with bespoke blackened and patinated metal hardware.
Silver travertine stone forms the sculptural kitchen island and working surfaces. The warm tones and linear stratification visually connect with the tone, depth and shadows of the sand dunes.
A subtle sandblasted limestone in bespoke tile formats is used to achieve the desired arrangements while cohering with the adjacent warm tones of the concrete floor slab, both of which are informed by the sand itself, the citation said.
Inside and out, material selection has been meticulously considered to anchor the home in its context while achieving the necessary resilience required for the coastal environment, the architects said.
Holiday park upgrade
The Takapuna Beach Holiday Park is earmarked for the biggest upgrade in almost a century.
That may cost up to $5 million but could be less.
Steve Edwards of operator SJE Takapuna said $3.5m to $5m could be spent there, but the exact spend had not yet been quantified because it all depends on the consenting process, now under way.
“We have not finalised building details yet because we have to get the resource consent first.
“I’ve been involved in holiday parks for 24 years. We’re very passionate about it. We just want to do what’s right for the holiday park and good of the community.”
He plans to crane pre-fabricated buildings on to the reserve land, which the company has leased for about 33 years.
“There are a lot of people who do this type of building work. We haven’t aligned ourselves with anyone yet. It all comes down to the design of the building, which will determine how and when we build.”
Plans are for eight two-bedroom units, four one-bedroom units and six basic or standard cabins:
- Eight motel units, each with two bedrooms;
- Four motel units with studio rooms where there are no separate bedrooms;
- Six basic or standard cabins with a bed but those staying there use communal bathroom and cooking facilities.
He can’t give prices to be charged for renting those places per day or week in advance of the development and expansion, but says the aim is to make the places affordable for those who stay.
Edwards and wife Jeanette operate holiday parks in Queenstown, Fox Glacier, Nelson, Waikuku Beach in north Canterbury and Takapuna.
Their business did not have one name or brand, he explained, because in each case it was running separately and connected into the community.
The birds!
It’s like something out of the 1963 Alfred Hitchcock film The Birds.
The Herald reported last Monday on the case of a Newmarket apartment owner fined $7000 after neighbours complained about unsightly and unhygienic effects from her feeding birds outside her Khyber Pass unit.
The Tenancy Tribunal ordered Jill Veronica Watt to pay the fine after her body corporate acted on neighbours’ complaints, although it did not go ahead with trying to recoup costs for building painting work.
Watt acknowledged having a habit of feeding birds in the courtyard of her unit.
Other Auckland apartment owners then told their stories of units blighted by the birdies.
Not only did they suspect neighbours feeding birds but they had problems getting proof of such activities.
Sure, there’s a lot of poo, the apartment owner said. But can it be proved that the neighbouring resident enticed his winged friends to the balcony and created all that mess?
One block even assigned a person to get evidence to bring a complaint. Tales from apartment land get increasingly astonishing.
While the resident was said to be feeding birds, another was thought to be harming them, the insider told this column. Another apartment dweller told of spikes inserted at their building to deter birds.
It doesn’t sound like avian heaven in those blocks.
Peter McCarthy, of Symterra bird-deterrent system, said bird-feeding causing problems was such a common occurrence.
“A resident, or in many cases, a neighbour’s love for birds, cultural practices or boredom results in significant flocks of birds being fed.
“This has a great impact to a property in mess, damage, amenity, health and odour.”
He has several clients working on buildings where neighbours had been feeding birds.
“Unfortunately, it takes a council to get involved as the culprit is adjacent to the building being damaged.”
The Newmarket case was unusual, he said, because she continued to feed the birds after requests to stop. The $7000 fine was “a very harsh penalty for an individual, but will serve as a serious warning for the future”, McCarthy thinks.
Anne Gibson has been the Herald‘s property editor for 25 years, written books and covered property extensively here and overseas.
