NZ Visual Diary - entry 264

eastern facade - Viaduct Events Centre

Headquarters for Team New Zealand from 2018-2022 as the crew prepared for the 2021 America’s Cup competition, the Viaduct Events Centre reopened as a premier events location in 2023.

The building is a glorious example of place-informed architecture. Located at water’s edge in the Viaduct Harbour precinct of the Auckland harbour-front, the centre’s roof line extends and compliments the wave pattern of the harbour’s waters at its backdoor.

The building’s architecture, especially the front facade with its fractal interplay of geometric forms, is a visual treat. I elected to photograph the eastern side of the building because I enjoy the superimposition of natural and mathematical forms: the rounded wave patterns set against the rectilinear prominence of the staircase. As the great Catalan architect Antoni Gaudi remarked: “There are no straight lines or sharp corners in nature.”