What's next for Aotea Square?

It's a large paved public space that comes alive for major events; but what would make it welcoming every day? Three designers explore ideas for a more connected, playful and people-focused Aotea Square.

The Urban Room recently hosted a collaborative design charrette exploring ideas for making Aotea Square a more vibrant, welcoming and well-used public space. The session brought together young professionals and urban practitioners from different disciplines, with everyone encouraged to contribute. Anastasia Turapina helped organise the event, which was attended by Gwen Smart and Hamish Murphy.

Q: What are the challenges in the Aotea Square space, and why doesn’t it work as well as we think it could?

Anastasia: I’d say it works, more or less, as an event base, but there are some issues with everyday activation. One of the reasons is that nearly all the buildings around the square are event venues. None of them are working on a day-to-day basis, so there is no weekday audience to speak of. That’s why it’s kind of underused in that regard. 

Gwen: On top of the usage issues that stem from the surrounding buildings and lack of activation, the square itself has a lot of barriers and level changes. They're not physical barriers, because you can get over them; but it’s a psychological barrier that you have to go up and down stairs. There are strange scatterings of buildings throughout that obstruct sightlines. It’s just not a cohesive, welcoming space. 

Hamish: There are barriers, not just in the physical walking-over sense, but from a visual perspective as well. You can’t really see through the Square. You’re not going to walk through it because you can’t see what’s on the other side. And at the top end of the Square, there’s nothing really to go to at the moment.

Anastasia: There’s also an absent connection with Myers Park. If that was there, I guess that would change the way the square is used. 

Gwen: That’s a real opportunity. It’s a practical connection in terms of circulation, through Myers Park and St Kevin’s Arcade to Karangahape Road, but it’s also a connection to the natural course of the valley and where the Waihorotiu stream would have run. Strengthening that connection was a consistent idea that came out of the discussion. 

Anastasia: It’s about expressing the history of the place. There were ideas about the possibility of having water present in the Square somehow, whether that’s a water feature or maybe even a wetland. There are lots of opportunities there. 

Gwen: If there’s still going to be a car park underneath, we're not going to get a wetland on top; but connectivity was the overarching thing that came out of it: in terms of people movement, cultural connectivity and ecological connectivity. All of those things could be really strengthened.

Q: In recent years, a lot of activity has been concentrated at the bottom of Queen Street, perhaps to the neglect of the upper end. But now there is something big happening up there: how might the City Rail Link change the Square and the surrounding area?

Hamish: I was there on Friday, the day after the charrette, and I overheard a whole group of people talking about how cool it was that the new Te Waihorotiu train station was going to be so close to Aotea Square. In the charette, we were very focused on what could be improved and what the issues were, but I think there is a lot of love for the Square already. Like a lot of things in Auckland, it’s kind of underappreciated. We’ve actually got quite a cool city environment, but people don’t always appreciate it for what it is. 

Anastasia: Because of the station opening, lots of things are changing around it and lots of opportunities are emerging. One of the things we touched on was the cinema building, Sky World. There’s potential to do something with that building. From a spatial perspective, it would be a great opportunity to reintroduce day-to-day activities into the space. 

Gwen: None of the three of us remember Aotea Square when that centre was still at its peak and there was a food court in there. There’s obviously still the cinema now, but there’s a huge amount of empty space. That's pretty obvious when you’re in there, and it’s not super-inviting. It will be interesting to see if the building’s use changes after the CRL opens.  We talked about whether there could have been a direct station access through the square itself, as you see in European cities. It’s good that people consider Te Waihorotiu station close, but in terms of accessibility, could it be even closer? 

Q: What ideas from the charrette stood out to you? 

Gwen: Aotea Square is an amazing and very large space right in the heart of the city. It functions really well for significant cultural events, including Diwali. It would be amazing if it could be rationalised so there were fewer barriers and it became a cohesive whole, but with distinct sub-areas where smaller, everyday functions could exist; while the whole thing could still function as one space for big events. 

Hamish: Making the green space greener was another big part of most ideas. The lawn areas have nice trees and could be somewhere to kick a ball, but there are big paving bands between every little bit of grass. It doesn’t function as a green open space in the way that it could. 

Anastasia: We also thought about who is going to use the space. Spatially, you’ve got the university campus to one side and lots of students. On the other side, you’ve got Victoria Quarter, with families and young professionals living there. At the same time, Queen Street attracts tourists and visitors. The question is: what kind of activity could work as an overarching theme for all these groups? One thing we discussed was play areas – and not just as a kids’ thing, it should be attractive to pretty much everyone. Reintroducing some sort of playful, interesting interaction would be a good way of doing that. 

Gwen: One of the ideas I found most exciting was whether the Central City Library could find a new home in Aotea Square in the future. Tūranga in Christchurch is a precedent. It’s a library by name, but it truly is a community heart and hub for the city, and it draws huge numbers of people. When I'm in Christchurch, I’ll frequently go to do something at Tūranga, when I would not otherwise be going to the pretty desolate Cathedral Square. Tūranga has community meeting rooms that can be hired, workshop spaces, sewing machines, books and amazing children’s areas. Something like that on Aotea Square would provide a real invitation for people to come. It would be an incredible opportunity if it ever arose. 

Hamish: You don’t really appreciate where the Central City Library is at the moment, over on Lorne Street. Aotea Square is a massive area, and everything around it is currently devoted to things that are more active in the evening or on the weekend. Having something there that people will come to all the time would be a big game changer. But, in saying that, you wouldn’t want to lose the theatre and the arts that already exist in and around the Square.

All photos by Ksenia Zharkovskaia