| 31 “With this project, we saw how a small group of passionate and dedicated people can make a real impact when they refuse to give up.” The Hundertwasser Art Centre received a special award as well as a gold award at the New Zealand Commercial Projects Awards 2022. COMMUNITY Scope The project moved along the planning and funding stages until 2014, when the newly elected Whangārei District Council removed it from their long term plan. But a group of local citizens wasn’t having it. They formed the Prosper Northland Trust (PNT) and started the complex process of re-building relationships and scoping the project from scratch. In 2015, Whangārei District Council held a referendum to determine whether the project should go ahead. In a landslide win with more than 50% of the total votes, the Hundertwasser Art Centre finally had a public mandate and the support of the community. PNT, along with Whangārei Art Museum Trust and the Wairau Maori Art Gallery Board got back to fundraising with an estimated cost of $20.97 million. In 2018, Ben was part of a delegation of the project team sent to Vienna on an induction into all things Hundertwasser. The group was hosted by the Hundertwasser Foundation, and got to see Hundertwasser buildings and the details within them up close. “He had some key principles and these are incorporated into his architecture,” Ben says. “He didn’t like straight lines or corners, and he believed architecture should be in harmony with nature. He believed the person doing the work should embrace the principles but execute it in their own way. As a project manager, this was very different to the way I’ve trained and worked for many years.” Construction got underway in 2019, and as the local craftspeople involved threw away their spirit levels and adhered to Hundertwasser’s vision for them to express their own creativity, Ben found himself trying to balance the budget on one side with the Hundertwasser Foundation’s fierce protection and management of his design guidelines on the other. At one point, an incorrectly built ceiling had to be pulled down and rebuilt in order to receive sign-off from the foundation as an authentic Hundertwasser. “We had to preserve the integrity and the purity of the art,” he says. “I feel like in the project space, sometimes we cave too early and put it down to budget constraints. In doing that we sacrifice the functionality of the building and all of the long-term benefits a higher investment would achieve.” This special project has received a special award as well as a gold award at the New Zealand Commercial Projects Awards 2022. Ben also won the consultants award at the NZ Building Industry Awards. He says this is a story of how a small group of determined people rose up against challenges and adversity because they could see the value this project would create for their community. As Architects and Interior Designers we are delighted to have worked with Scope Total Project Partners over two decades. QUANTITY SURVEYORS & CONSTRUCTION COST CONSULTANTS www.cuesko.com | enquiry@cuesko.co.nz National Business. Global Expertise. Local Projects. RLB.com Supporting Scope in delivering for the community and region.
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