City Scene - 7

I loved the forms, movement and colours in the Britomart Railway Station in Auckland and busily set about photographing them - until I was stopped by a security guard. I guess he thought I was a terrorist or something.

The Glass House

There's a glass house-like fragility about Auckland's Britomart transport centre that seems to me, to be the perfect foil for hefty, snorting buses and lumbering trains. I've photographed it many times, in multiple weather conditions. And when I'm tired of the big picture, I home in on the details.

I find the crazy mishmash of shimmering horizontals and verticals visually compelling.

Blue against silver, silver against blue, equally so.

Solid - Transparent

Short - Tall

And a lone walker thrown in for good measure.

To give an appropriate sense of scale.

And amid all those verticals, that one horizontally-inclined lamp. www.britomart.org

An Architectural Pause

This is the above-ground heart of Auckland's Britomart Transport Centre, built as part of a programme to help reduce traffic congestion and pollution in Auckland. It was completed in 2003 and cost NZ$211,000,000. It took two years to build and used 40,000 cubic metres of concrete - this obviously for the below-ground rail system as well. Six years on and given the ongoing arguments and debates about the inefficiencies of Auckland's inner city public transport, many probably wonder if it was money well spent. Political arguments aside, I think it's a fine piece of architecture. This shot it should be noted, doesn't do justice to the scale nor the complexity of the building. As always I'm attracted to the flashy facade of things. There's been a heap of building activity at the greater Britomart Square location and if you click on Britomart in the label line below, you'll see other shots I've taken in the area. www.britomart.co.nz

On Reflection

A Blur of City High Rise

Reflected

In the Britomart Fountain

Auckland

April 2009 Ajr

Off the Rails

Auckland. April 2009. Ajr When I was in Auckland recently, updating the inner city transport systems at the Britomart Transport Centre for the latest edition of Frommers New Zealand, I went down into the railway system to see how things were working. And, true to form, I couldn't resist a photograph or ten. I loved the way the neon, the lights, the people, the architecture were all interacting, so as I descended on the escalator, I took these photos. I carried on and took a few more once I got to the bottom - UNTIL I was tapped on the shoulder by a security guard, who told me photographs were not allowed. I asked him why not - I was only photographing the lights after all. "Because they're not," he said. I quickly decided he was a plonker. I mean...was he worried I was a terrorist or something? Ridiculous! He could at least have given me a legitimate reason. But I loved the lights anyway and came away quite happy.

More Britomart Boards

Britomart, Auckland. April 2009 Ajr

I find something unexpectedly fascinating - poetic almost - about the juxtaposition of all these lovely 'soft' words with the brutality of a construction site at Auckland's Britomart development. Love it love it love it and took Waaaay mote photographs than I should probably confess to. There's a few I featured a few days ago below...if you scroll down a wee way. Clever graphics.

City Graphics

Auckland April 2009. Ajr

I spent a LOT of time this afternoon photographing these hoardings at a Britomart construction site. Ernst & Young have also sponsored a hoardings art exhibition in the same area (more on that another time) and the whole place is looking colourful and interesting. I like it when construction sites ADD to a city. I might be the only person who thinks so but I do tend to think they do anyway. .... all those forms and textures and shapes and cranes.... I find it all visually stimulating. Factor in words and you've got a real winner in my eyes.