The Hundertwasser Art Centre is on track for a December completion.
A 3.5 tonne "onion tower" incorporating $50,000 worth of gold is about to go on open air display at the Whangārei Town Basin but, to any would-be bandits, don't even think about it.
The crowning jewel – the golden cupola – of the Hundertwasser project, is complete and set to be barged down the Hātea River for installation on June 25.
The cupola is made of aluminium and measures 8m high and 8m wide with a surface area of 90sq m. Over six months, it has been intricately and custom-made at Absolute Stainless' fabrication workshop with a covering of $50,000 worth of fine gold leaf sealed with a protective coating, its durability expected to last 100 years.
Online invitations to the installation event drew a mixed response with many looking forward to attending and others surmising its longevity before attempts were made at obtaining the gold or vandalisation.
However, Hundertwasser Art Centre with Wairau Māori Art Gallery communications manager Greg Hay explained that, as well as access to the cupola being virtually impossible, if removed, the gold is worthless, because it would be too soft for further use.
"The cupola has been covered in a thick clear coat to protect it from the elements and also so that it can't be removed. Because the gold is so thin (1000 sheets make 1mm thickness) and the coverage is only one sheet thick, it will virtually disintegrate if anyone attempts to remove it. It will also now be impossible to separate the gold from the clear coat which protects it, rendering it worthless if anyone was to attempt to remove it.
"You will also need scaffolding to access the cupola anyway so practically impossible to 'climb' on to it."
The 3.5 tonne golden cupola will be loaded on to a barge in Portland early next Friday morning, before travelling up the Hātea River. Hay said that, all going to plan, at around 8.30am, it would be craned from the barge and placed into position on the building.
The word "cupola" derives via Italian from lower Latin cupula "small cup". In architecture, a cupola is a dome-like structure on top of a building often used as a lookout or to admit light and air. Traditionally, cupolas have appeared in churches and mosques throughout Russia, India, the Middle East and Central Asia.
The cupola is a common feature of Hundertwasser's architecture. Gilded cupolas are incorporated in the artist's other architectural projects around the world. He believed that a golden "Zwiebelturm" (onion tower) beautifies architecture and provides those who enjoy it, the status of royalty.
One of the most celebrated artists to come out of Europe in the 20th century, Friedensreich Hundertwasser celebrated irregular lines and contrasting textures and colours and was acclaimed for his work with colour and mosaics.
The Kawakawa-based New Zealand citizen of 30 years, was invited to select a building in Whangārei suitable for one of his world-famous architectural transformations for an art centre within. He decided the former Northland Harbour Board building at the Town Basin would be ideal to turn into a work of art – thus becoming his parting gift to Northland.
After his death in 2000, much controversy surrounded the project among those for and against it before work on the controversial $33.2 million project began just three years ago.
The project has employed more than 500 people of various trades with the construction involving tens of thousands of coloured tiles and 40,000 recycled red bricks. In keeping with his grass-roof theme, it has the largest afforested roof in the southern hemisphere after 150 trees were crane-lifted over recent months along with the planting of thousands of plants with an estimated value of $100,000 donated by a local nursery.
Predictions had been that international travellers would comprise 42 per cent of visitors to the completed HAC, so management has been working with the tourism sector to devise a marketing plan to entice New Zealanders to visit. The HAC will house the only permanent collection of Hundertwasser works outside Austria and be the new home of the Wairau Māori Art Gallery. It's the world's last authentic building design by the late Austrian-born artist and architect and the only art centre outside Vienna to host his original art. The project is on track for its December 3, 2021 opening.
If weather conditions are unfavourable next Friday, the golden cupola installation will take place the following day.