Fold

The transformation of the Tank Farm area of Auckland’s waterfront is a long term project which is emerging from years of planning and urban design phases towards the realisation of buildings. The master developers, Sea + City Projects Ltd, desired a complex on a key waterfont site which would animate the area and act as a signal for further development. It was intended as a ‘temporary’ infill, which would be replaced with a three storey development in maybe 10 years. The design was to incorporate an existing wharf shed in order to respect the history of the wharves and the fishing industries of past and present.

Given the wide open scale of the surrounding wharves and older industrial sites, we recognised that height would eventually be necessary to create successful urban spaces and streetscapes, and to define the crucial axis from the city downtown area into the new development area. However, in the meantime, identity could be created with a low rise building which had unique character and energy.

‘Fold’ was a location and identity and architecture rolled into one, comprising a building of maximum flexibility, to attract a variety of tenants and draw as many of the public to the area as possible.

The tenancies are sheltered under a large, vibrant, energetic roof: folded planes of lightweight steel construction, with an unmistakable and memorable identity. Brightly coloured, it has free-form shapes and large overhanging roof canopies. Its faceted lines contrast beautifully with the traditional form of the existing Shed. The two new wings approach the shed, partially enfold it, and create generous accessways which lead around the Shed, ramping gently up to the wharf. The contrasting forms of Fold reinforce the traditional elegance of the Shed; the old and the new are enhanced by difference.