NZ Visual Diary - entry 166

dusk at a Silo Marina structure

The Wynyard Quarter district of Auckland’s city centre is a marvel of urban design and landscape architecture. The transformation of the area from its erstwhile days of marine industrial and petrochemical storage activity to a mixed-use magnet for residential living and entertainment commerce is truly remarkable.

I took a stroll about the quarter last night at dusk. It being the early evening on the last day of the school term break, I expected to see far fewer families than I had seen the past two weeks of school holiday. And yet, young parents with their children, as well as older school kids wishing to squeeze in a last holiday romp, filled the walk ways and pocket parks, and clung to railings along the harbour front. It is a proper testimony to the merits of urban revitalisation projects - build it and they will come.

The play of light in the recesses of urban architecture is the celebratory theme of today’s post.