This started as a comment on:
Not PC: A billion dollar bedpan?
Who on earth would want this on the Auckland waterfront?
I wrote:
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 sight-lines 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 facility make it something that is not inward focused like a stadium.
That last comment is my real problem with the waterfront location suggested. I’ve marked some maps to see how the locations of some other stadiums quoted in the discussions about the Auckland site compare.
“A waterfront stadium works in Wellington” is a frequent comment but there is one big difference. The Wellington Stadium does not impact their waterfront the same way the proposed Auckland site will. The red zones on the map show the impact of “The Cake Tin” is minimal. It’s in old railway yards, on the other side of the road from the waterfront and away from the zone where the CBD interacts with the harbour.
“The Telstra Stadium in Melbourne works”. It’s 3km from “the real waterfront”, about 600m from the river in a former railway yard and far from impacting sight-lines to scenic attractions (like a harbour in “The City of Sails”).
Now look at the Auckland Site. It’s between the city & harbour looking towards the main harbour, between the Waterfront Drive & Bridge from the other direction and will be a major feature looking across from Devonport. Hardly the same as the examples quoted previously. Yes the port that is there is hardly pretty but it’s there as an accident of history. With the stadium we have a choice to place it there or somewhere better
The design being mentioned as “inspiration”, the Allianz Stadium, is hardly inspiring. This will not be Auckland's “Sydney Opera House”. If the port land is to be used for a public space lets not have a building designed to focus attention inwards, to the arena, away from the real attraction – the harbour it sits in front of…
Some other comments:
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How often can a 60,000 seat stadium be filled in Auckland.
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Are the other stadiums struggling to cope with the demand?
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Will the events that demand 60,000 attendances come anyway?
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How many people can the limited train service to the area, a prime reason quoted for the site, actually deliver/remove in a reasonable time?
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From my experience at the Melbourne GP serious numbers of trains, trams and buses running from multiple places were required to move 60,000+ people in a reasonable time. Is this more than the limited lines into Britomart could handle? Will it be on a platform with parking underneath or what?
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Can it be built in time? Anyone watching the stellar progress of the baby Vector stadium across the road from the proposed site will have little confidence…
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Stadium set for mid-year inauguration: “23.01.06 The country's largest indoor entertainment and sporting venue is set to open its doors around the middle of the year.”
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Hello, It’s November, is it open yet?
Extending North Harbour, maybe even the old Carlaw Park site, look like better options to me.
