My Favourite Building: Michael Lett

We've been running our 'My Favourite Building' page at the back of the magazine since 2005, and recently decided it'd be quite fun to look back over some of the people and buildings we've featured. Earlier this year, Auckland gallerist Michael Lett chose Queen Street's Metro Centre (the big cinema complex with the IMAX theatre, behind the Civic), a mid-1990s exercise in futurism by Walker Group Architects. The photo is by Alastair Guthrie (Michael's head is just visible peering off the bridge at the top).

Here's what Michael had to say about why he likes the building.

“Before this space became Queen Street’s Metro Centre, it had DKD café and a Hare Krishna vegetarian café and was somewhat bohemian. When the new building went up it was fabulously ugly and I hated it, but over the years it’s become more decrepit and I’ve warmed to it. It’s dawned on me that this could be the Civic Theatre of my generation. 

"In Auckland there is a tendency to continually renovate or try to improve existing architecture, often to the detriment of the building. I was quite sad when they got rid of the Metro Centre’s rocket-shaped pillars and the tube TVs with their fibreglass, bug-like screens above the movie counter – I tried to buy one but they’d been thrown out. 

"If we leave this place alone for 50 years we’ll be revelling in its design. It’s a fine example of the façadism trend, and it’s so 90s with the overtones of sci-fi futurism in its fitout. And who doesn’t love a rocket lift?”

Michael Parekowhai in Venice

Artist Michael Parekowhai is representing New Zealand at the Venice Art Biennale, which opens on June 4, and bloggers Jim and Mary Barr are there watching Michael's grand installation be unloaded, a process involving cranes and barges and lots of potential complication (but no actual major hiccups so far). You can follow the action on Jim and Mary's blog at the link here. The image below is from their blog, showing one of the crates containing Michael's work being unloaded.

Some of you might remember that we featured some photographs of Michael's installation, On First Looking Into Chapman's Homer, in our April May 2011 issue.

We were lucky enough to see the works - a heavily carved grand piano, and two bronze replica pianos with giant bulls atop them - at a warehouse in west Auckland before they were packed up to be shipped to Venice. It was an amazing event - the carved piano was being played while the bronze bulls stood guard nearby, and there was something in the air that caused quite a few people to weep. In a nice way.

The photographs of the works below are by Jennifer French, courtesy of Michael Lett. The Venice Biennale is on until October 25, a fantastic excuse to visit that spectacular city (as if an excuse was needed).



Art collectors Jim and Mary Barr have conducted a quick compare-and-contrast of the artworks in two of the homes in our latest issue: that of Auckland art dealer Michael Lett's Karangahape Road apartment and Wellington art dealer Hamish McKay's Kapiti Coast home.


Michael's apartment isn't an architectural piece -it's on the upper floor of the Edwardian building that also houses his gallery - but it's an interesting experiment in how a space can be occupied and personalised without shifting the walls around. He recently had interior designer Katie Lockhart add yellow floors and salmon-pink details. Here's the opening spread of our article, with photographs by Derek Henderson.

Hamish McKay's place is a very different story, a fantastic mid-century home designed by little-known architect Reginald N. Uren. It seems like a simple wood-and-glass box, but is surprisingly complex inside. Here's the opening spread; the photograph is by Patrick Reynolds.

Here's the link to Jim and Mary's blog.

http://overthenet.blogspot.com/