Celebrate Festival of Architecture at the Ellen Melville Centre.
Jane’s Walk
14 (4pm) and 15 (1.30pm) September
Women in Urbanism invite you to join walking tour guide Alex Bonham and urban planner Ellie Craft for a walk around central Auckland. You will learn how the streets and spaces we take for granted were originally formed and how they could change again. The team will share some stories, insights, and urban planning tools, you bring your imagination and a pencil. Over two hours six spots in the city will be redesigned to make them work better for everyone. Bookings essential.
Megastructures: The Team Behind Pacifica
15 September, 3.30pm-5.30pm
Women are not always associated with 'skyscrapers' but have been working on megastructures for decades - with probably the most well-known in the western world being Natalie Griffin de Blois, partner of Skidmore Owings and Merrill (1944-74). Lorna Hamilton will give an inside look into the project, bringing you up to date with construction progress, her role as Project Architect with 2IC, Joanna Truong, and discuss how she initially picked up the project from a colleague and Architect, Uma Weerakkody.
Te Ao Tangata Hikoi – Universal Design Tour
17 September, 12.30pm – 2pm
Be guided to ten different sites around Tāmaki Makaurau with descriptions of their history, their existing universal design features and potential future designs. Universal design is about designing for all ages and abilities. The sites include: Bledisloe Lane, Aotea Square, AUT Sir Paul Reeves Building, the Central City Library Tamaki Pataka Korero, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki, High Street, Ellen Melville Building and Freyberg Place, Jean Batten Place, the Queen Street sculptures (Te Waka Taumata O Horotiu and Kaitiaki II) and Queen Street itself.
Freyberg Place & Ellen Melville Centre – The Inside Story
18 September, 12.30pm-1.30pm
Join project manager Lisa Spasic on site for a talk about the complexities, challenges and rewards of delivering the award-winning upgrade of Ellen Melville Centre and Freyberg Place.
Early Women Architects in NZ by Elizabeth Cox
25 September, 5pm - 6.30pm
Who were the women who trained and worked as architects in Aotearoa in the 1900s-1940s? In this period, a sector of the New Zealand community began to call for women to become architects in New Zealand. This presentation explores why, and tells the stories of those who answered the call. How did they contribute to the field and why have they disappeared from our architectural history today? Elizabeth Cox is an architectural and social historian who has been working with these questions and more.
Park for $2 per hour, to a maximum of $10 on evenings and weekends at the Victoria St car park. Find out more.