Located at the point where tarseal meets tide, this commercial "shed" for the Ports of Auckland, sits like a sentinel at the gateway to "Z" Pier, Westhaven.
Intended as a temporary, relocatable structure with a life span (on this site) of just 15 years, the design was driven by the need to create versatile spaces that could easily be adapted to accommodate a variety of functions.
The building achieves this through the use of an extruded portal system, creating bays which can be replicated ad infinitum. The rationalised framework of the building, with its use of millennium yacht rig cross bracing, reflects the structural logic and honed efficiency of the sail boats it surveys.
Reflecting the small budget, the low cost, environmentally friendly materials were made to do double duty; Bondor panels act as both the building envelope and thermal insulation, timber doors within the aluminium window joinery provide a tactile component and the fibre cement verandah slats provide solar protection whilst creating ever changing patterns of light and shade across the facade. And like it's charges, at some future point this building too will be de-rigged, dismantled and shipped to a new berth.
