NZ Visual Diary - entry 397
feeding time
It is a scene from any oceanfront city - sea gulls accustomed to finding food sources, healthy or otherwise, at oceanside spaces where people hang out. Today’s entry captures one of those interactive moments between a flock of gulls and a self-anointed caretaker.
My intent, however, is focused elsewhere, not on any particular activity in public spaces but instead on the commonplace yet important acts of congregation and exchange that public spaces permit and promote. Framed within a bigger picture, the photograph celebrates transitory but purposeful public gathering, those moments of quiet repose, of conversation or casual observation, in which we seek neither event nor material reward but rather that deep-seated need for community, however amorphous.
Few places in Auckland Central are as invested in civic gathering and exchange of non-commercial form as Te Komititanga Square. The square sits at the cross-road of Auckland’s transportation infrastructure: the Waitematā train station, a principal bus hub and the city-centre ferry terminal are adjacent to the square. As such, the square provides a respite for travellers, be they students or workers on their way home at the end of a day who wish to share stories with mates; tourists who stop to admire the multi-faceted views of ocean and commercial district gateway; or others who simply wish to sit and people-watch.
I will end this post by sharing a segment of the narrative from the architecture & design practice firm Jasmax, the company that served as project director for the redevelopment of the square. On its company website, Jasmax celebrates the historical significance of the site for Māori peoples and the significance of the rededicated square as contemporary civic plaza:
Overlooking Waitematā Harbour, Te Komititanga forms a new civic heart for Auckland City’s downtown and waterfront precinct. Framed by some of the city’s most significant heritage and commercial buildings, including Commercial Bay, Auckland Ferry Terminal, the Chief Post Office (CPO) and Waitematā Station, Te Komititanga provides a major public forum and a revitalised place of welcome and arrival into the city.
The design reflects the site’s unique setting and cultural heritage as a place where people, water and the land converge. The plaza’s name was gifted by Ngāti Whātua Ōrakei and the CRL Mana Whenua Forum and means “to mix” or “to merge” in te reo Māori. The unique paving pattern represents the convergence of the Waihorotiu Stream, flowing beneath Queen Street, and the Waitematā Harbour, over which is laid a whāriki (fine woven mat) demarcating a major gathering space, an ātea, expressing both welcome and unity in front of the CPO.1
Jasmax website
< https://jasmax.com/projects/te-komititanga-lower-queen-street-public-realm>