Architectural vision
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Cooper and CompanyMore about the company who will own, manage and care for Britomart long-term.
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History of BritomartMaori pa, colonial fort, a place of boom, bust and rebirth – Britomart has some remarkable stories to tell.
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Development updateThe latest on the heritage restorations, construction projects and new businesses coming to the precinct.
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Architectural vision
BRITOMART IS BEING REVITALISED AS A BUSY ‘PEOPLE PLACE’, BUILT AROUND INVITING PUBLIC SPACES, HIGH-QUALITY ARCHITECTURE AND A DEEP RESPECT FOR THE PLACE’S HISTORY.
The Britomart development is a once-in-a-generation opportunity for Auckland. Its prime location, its scale and its rare concentration of heritage buildings are allowing the creation of a very special new central-city precinct.
Owner Cooper and Company is working with leading international architects and consultants to transform Britomart into a place of genuine pride for Aucklanders.
Designed to attract people and activity day and night, it is becoming a lively new focal point for the city. Its heritage treasures are being brought back to life and integrated with the very best of 21st century design.
Places and spaces
The precinct itself is planned around a network of public spaces, including laneways, a central walking street, a public square and internal atriums.
All the precinct’s buildings will be activated for public use at ground level, providing immediate street-level engagement.
The new buildings rising up around Takutai Square are designed with a sense of openness and inclusivity, allowing visibility of people and activity up through many levels of the structure.
The materials, proportions and modelling of the new buildings respond directly to their surroundings, referencing both the new and heritage elements of the cityscape. Read more about Britomart’s buildings and spaces
Inspiration and Expertise
Cooper and Company draws on the expertise of many outstanding firms and individuals across the Britomart projects.
Leading Australian firm Johnson Pilton Walker, led by acclaimed architect Richard Johnson, has had a vital role in providing inspiration and direction for Britomart’s architectural evolution.
As well as providing master planning guidance, JPW has been responsible for the design of three of Britomart’s new buildings, the Ernst & Young Building and the two elements of Westpac on Takutai Square, along with the Britomart streetscape and Takutai Square development projects.
Architectural conservation practice Salmond Reed has also had an essential role, overseeing the painstaking restoration and refurbishment of Britomart’s heritage buildings.
An Architect's View
Britomart master plan architect Richard Johnson talks about what makes the precinct special.
‘I’m more interested in designing public spaces than buildings,’ says award-winning Australian architect Richard Johnson.
‘I’m interested in what I call the “living rooms” of a city: the pattern of linked public spaces in which the citizens of the city go about their business and where the history of a city is embedded.
‘Spaces that are comfortable, with good proportions that relate to people in a human way, will attract people and activity and give those places an authenticity.’
Authentic sense of place
‘The determinants and the scale of the spaces at Britomart are directly related to existing heritage grain,’ says Richard. ‘They’re human, they’re intimate, they’re active – all things that help make somewhere a genuine “people” place.’
For Richard, the authenticity of a place is derived from its connections to history, memory and human experience.
‘I believe it’s extremely hard to create a new public space from scratch, because there’s no embodied memory in it. But Britomart has an enormous history: pre-settlement, post-settlement, Maori history, railway history, and a lot of tangible evidence of that is still here.
‘Great spaces that are connected with the history, the topography and the culture of a place become enduring spaces that people intuitively feel comfortable with.’
Richard Johnson is a principal of Johnson Pilton Walker. In 2008 he was awarded the prestigious Royal Australian Institute of Architects Gold Medal for his exceptional body of work, spanning four decades, in both the public and private domains.
