Wow - I love the visual concept of this stadium and finally something that is within reach of Auckland's existing (albeit inadequate) transport infrastructure. Being from Melbourne, I know first hand the impact good sporting venues can have on a city... culturally, economically and socially. The construction of Melbourne Park in the late 80's and then revitalisation of the Albert Park GP circuit in the early 90's really put Melbourne on the map internationally and it's economy and population have grown exponentially since. Living and working in Auckland, I would love to see that growth and development happen here too.
However, I have to ask: when oh when are Kiwis going to stop being so short sighted with their endless rectangular stadium proposals and actually think beyond Rugby? Rectangular stadiums are limited to the sports they can host. Auckland already has a plethora of under utilised rectangular stadiums and I genuinely feel it is time we collectively looked beyond just rugby and design a stadium that is suitable to host all range of sports including cricket, soccer, baseball, AFL, and so on. T20 cricket is hugely popular and with the large Indian and Pakistani population in Auckland has the potential to be even bigger given a suitable venue with increased capacity. Whilst Eden Park manages to host currently, it's squared-out boundary is not in keeping with other international venues. The North Shore Stadium had modifcations to try and fit baseball and was briefly home to the Auckland Tuatara team, but the stadium was not designed to cater for baseball and viewing was not ideal. AFL is also a rapidly growing sport in NZ despite having it's roots in NZ back as far as the 1860's. But rectangular stadiums do not work for AFL, and with average home and away crowds in Aussie of more than 38,000 Auckland could greatly benefit from a stadium capable of holding at least some exhibition games if not the regular league that is already running here.
So whilst this proposal looks sensational and is situated close to the CBD and transport, I implore all designers and architects to consider the possibilities of other sports when thrashing out these concepts and produce a multi-purpose stadium suitable to hold just about anything - and ideally with an operable roof to shield from Auckland's abundance of precipitation. It may just be enough to really put Auckland on the map and drive both tourism and the flailing economy.
TOA is excited to announce that Te Tōangaroa Precinct Development and stadium has been selected for further consideration, moving into the first stage of the business case assessment.
Te Tōangaroa Precinct Development is an ambitious urban revitalisation project on the eastern outskirts of Tāmaki Makarau’s CBD. It aims to transform underutilised space into a vibrant mixed-use precinct anchored by a new state-of-the-art stadium in an area behind Spark Arena and the old Auckland Railway Station building.
Ngā mihi nui to the project team and consortium; Cenfield MXD Ltd HKS, Inc., Buchan, Goldman Sachs, John Laing, Boffa Miskell Limited and TOA, and other international and local experts Aurecon, Robert Bird Group, Turner & Townsend and Barker & Associates. New Zealand Rugby has also supported the investigation of the Te Tōangaroa stadium and precinct as a potential long-term opportunity for rugby and New Zealand.
#TeTōangaroa #TāmakiMakaurau #Auckland #nzrugby
Exciting times ahead!👏