Tuesday 7 November 2006

A billion dollar bedpan?

Who on earth would want this on the Auckland waterfront?

Not Gordon Moller, who knows a thing or two about architecture. Not Geoff Vazey of Ports of Auckland, whose wharf it is that the Clark Government have been trying to usurp. Not taxpayers, surely, who will be feeling the government's hand in their pocket to the tune of $1,000 each to pay for it. And not me.

If taxpayers really have to be dunned to pay for this or something like it, and wherever it ends up going (and I have to say I still favour Carlaw Park myself), why not have a competition to design something of some worth instead of a bedpan.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Indeed. Though the Cake Tin proves that the water front idea can succeed. But a ben pan? Wtf? Personally I'd like to see whatever stadium we make be NZ's first large one with a roof that is closable, but open by default, like some overseas ones. But mainly, as you say, something of more value.

The world just doesn't have enought, Roarks does it, PC? I know nothing about how to construct a building, about architecture, but most "architects" know less than me when it comes to how a building ought to look, i.e., the Roark way, i.e., functional to their purpose. And a little sense of taste and value would be nice, too. No I haven't read the full of that book yet (I am reading others of hers first), but I intend to. So far I only read the excerpt from The Ayn Rand Sampler that the ARI sent me when I registered online.

Anonymous said...

Oh, and I also think it should be funded by corporations and investors that want to invest in it, not the government choosing to spend our money on it!

Why do we not have any shares that the government uses our money to create. I don't remember once getting any dividends from Kiwibank, the government's power station, or TVNZ. Or being able to sell my stake in the "people's bank" so that I can make profit from them. What about you? ;-)

Rebel Radius said...

Kane..I just couldn't put The Fountainhead down, I read it in 3 days....but that is another story.

As for the bedpan, I thought it looked like one of those old tyres that old people painted white. They planted marigolds and parsley in them, garnished with a with a few painted rocks. There was a time when this was en-vogue - cough!

Oswald Bastable said...

I've been waiting for one of the photoshoppers to tack a toilet lid to it!

Sort of represents what they are doing with our money...

Anonymous said...

If it's such a stupid idea then Dick Hubbard wouldn't support it.

Doh!

It's seriously stupid.

BTW: The Cake Tin is not the same as it does not stick out into the harbour and disrupt sightlines in the way this monstrosity will. It's not the concept of a stadium by the city that's stupid, it's having one screw up the harbour & waterfront. If that space is to be used for a public facilty make it something that is not inward focused like a stadium.

leelion said...

should we be hosting the rugby world cup alone? are we trying to punch above our weight?

Peter Cresswell said...

"The Cake Tin is not the same as it does not stick out into the harbour and disrupt sightlines in the way this monstrosity will."

That's it. The Cake Tin sits over the road from a fairly quiet port, not right smack in the middle of NZ's hardest-working port.

And from the outside, it really ain't pretty.

Peter Cresswell said...

I know these questions were probably rhetorical, but we have politicians who don't think so.

"Should we be hosting the rugby world cup alone?"

Probably not.

"Are we trying to punch above our weight?"

Yep. Sure are.

Anonymous said...

So Wellington has the cake tin and Auckland will get the bed pan. I know which I would rather sit inside.

Anonymous said...

Rebel Radius, I intend to read the Fountainhead yet, but I intend to. I want to read The Virtue of Selfishness, Capitalism, The Unknown Ideal, and Atlas Shrugged first.

Three days? I couldn't usually manage that unless it's a small book. Mind you, I read Phantom, book 10 of the Sword of Truth series, in 2 days and that is a almost 600 page hard cover book.

I don't know about what tires you refer too.

Oswald, that is funny.

Robin, I know it's not the same and that the two are very different. The point was that a harbour one can work if done right, i.e., the cake tin way, i.e. NOT the way of this one, even the new model ( which doesn't look like a bed pan. Instead it looks like two pet bowls stacked up, with the bottom of the top one removed.) In short the differences you pointed out are a part of what I was elluding too.

This whole stadium thing proves we are not well equipped mentally to host the World Cup. The main considerations are the waterfront one and Eden Park when they should be the Carlaw Park or North Harbour ones. If it wasn't for that we'd be able to host it. But because of that we aren't ready.