Golden section on the Golden mile

Lambton Quay Wellington

Our ‘golden section’ on the ‘golden mile’ project was a 1995 joint venture between @architectureworkshop @architectus @oap . We asked Billy Apple if he wanted to join us and lured him South by offering to pay his hotel bill to stay in Wellington for two weeks and participate in our workshop design process. We interpreted the golden section ratio on the Lambton Quay site. (Billy often used the Fibonacci sequence in his work and the mystical 1.618 ratio that some believe is perfect!) It’s a pretty good proportion to refer to though often slightly fatter than you might instinctively draw. We used it to build our architecture narrative for this competition project to test the WCC new CBD planning rules at that time.

We applied the ratio to invent ‘golden volumes’ & stacked 7 on top of each other and thought it was meant to be when the top of our tower miraculously aligned with Wellingtons cable car datum. ! Billy was very keen on this particular Pantone yellow for the tower a sort of Ali G sunglass yellow . Exposure to this internationally recognised artist who had returned to his homeland, reinforced to our fledging practice the importance of benchmarking ourselves in a ‘bigger pond’. Giles Reid, then working at Architectus Auckland made this lovely model. ‘ #billyapple #nzartist

Awards

Auckland Architecture Assoc. Design Award, 1996

Publications

Barton, C. (2015). Billy Apple®: a Life in Parts. Auckland: Auckland Art Gallery. p. 51.

EXHIBITIONS

Apple Tower, Billy Apple, The Artist Has to Live Like Everybody Else, Auckland Art Gallery, NML Tower, 2015