NZ Visual Diary - entry 316

apartment building - Auckland Central

Maybe I should start with what most irks me about this apartment building. First, there is emphatic negligence in the upkeep of the building’s exterior. The wood exterior needed ten years ago a new coat of paint, keeping the colour which I truly enjoy. Secondly, the balcony section has been defaced by the inclusion of the diagonal beams. I can appreciate the architect’s desire to break-up the monotony of the repeated balcony blocks; but the diagonal beams are an insult to tenants who must find their visual horizons both fragmented and obstructed by the beams’ placements.

I am intrigued by the architect’s mix of brutalist and modern architectural elements within the left side of the building’s face. Against the backdrop of the flattened and unadorned repetition of the stacked rectangular windows, the architect has infused the building’s left edge with both depth and movement.

When I sighted the building, that depth and movement caught my eye and beckoned me to pause and consider the structure.

In the course of post-processing, I elected to soften the building’s brutish look and give the building’s colour palette a rendering of flattened pastel texture.

Lastly, I love the clouds.