Creating opportunity for public life that enhances the city’s East-West Stitch
The integration of these functionally large-scale buildings with the public realm is the key to the design of the Convention Centre and Hotel.
A primary design intent has been for the buildings to be outwards-focused and provide opportunity for activation of the surrounding streets. By considering the built form, the ground floor functions and streetscape together, the development – which includes including a new laneway and plaza – aims to enrich the public life capacity around this city block.
Boffa Miskell were the lead landscape architects for the NZICC site and upgrades proposed to the surrounding streetscape. Our urban designers worked alongside Wood Bagot to produce the Urban Design Framework and have collaborated with the architects to shape the interface of this significant building with the surrounding urban context.
The design responds to the strategic vision of the City Centre Masterplan (CCMP) by providing greater potential for public life in and around the convention centre, helping to rebalance the currently traffic-dominated streets and creating a new east-west laneway and arrival plaza that will make a major contribution to the “East-West Stitch” – a key element of the CCMP.