Lighter Quay Masterplan, Auckland
Winner NZIA New Zealand Award 2004
Winner Property Council Building Award for Multi-Unit Residential Property 2004
The Lighter Quay development is situated on a unique waterfront site, formerly used as a log farm storage site, in Auckland’s Viaduct Basin. A hub of nautical activity, with boats and launches skimming across its waterways, Lighter Quay’s proximity to the Viaduct Basin’s lively restaurants and cafes makes it an ideal residential location.
The centrepiece of the masterplan is a declaimed navigable waterway running through the length of Lighter Quay. Wrapping around this waterway, the surrounding buildings create a sheltered central canal where the water reflects sun up to the windows and balconies above. With eight jetties and private moorings, the waterway is capable of housing motor launches and large keelers; boat access from Lighter Basin is through a specialised lock with pedestrian bridges.
On the seaward side of the site, a paved public walkway connects the western and southern edge of the Viaduct. Private residences immediately adjacent to this walkway are screened by a low sculptural strip of planting and deep-set ground floor terraces, creating an open but differentiated edge between public and private domains. A basalt plaza links the walkway to the northern part of the site.
The completed Lighter Quay development includes waterfront villas, duplex apartments, terrace houses, pavilion houses, amenities buildings and a luxurious hotel. Architecturally varied and designed to suit their particular orientations in relation to the water, these buildings are drawn together by the spatial logic of the masterplan, creating a development that is a coherent and fluid whole.
Client: Melview Developments Ltd.
