Laneway paving design reflects the union of the four waters Waitematā, Kaipara, Manukau and Tīkapa moana (the Hauraki Gulf) representing the glistening light off the waters.
The cobalt blue-painted wall is plain and unadorned except for dozens of platter-sized circular bumps which constitute a gargantuan Braille text. The text reads, "Maui’s line slices the blue water. Welcoming fish zigzag above the tower".
Diffuse like the breath, more art experience than art object, suspended lines of ball-chain choreographing space and light. Responding to this place on the shores of te Waitematā, look up and through the paua-shell colour spectrum as oceanic forms take shape. A perceptible shift in energy infuses the masculine magnificence of the soaring lobby architecture and the bustling street outside.
The whariki represents the atua, from under the Earth, to the moana, to the whenua, to the surface of the land, to the wind and sky. A different atua is represented on each of the six levels of the hotel floors. Each panel carries the colour that represents the atua, on a gold harakeke ground and carry a dark and a light tone of the colour or mix of colours. The design presents the kaokao, a symbol of strength and hospitality.
Level 6. Ruaumoko: Atua of earthquakes, volcanoes and seasons
Level 7. Papatūānuku - the Earth Mother
Level 8. Tāne – Atua of the forests and birds
Level 9. Tangaroa – atua of sea, lakes, rivers and creatures that live within them
Level 10. Ranginui – The Sky Father
Level 11. Tawhirimatea – The atua of weather
The artist was notable for his inventive use of light and shadow in painting, photography, sculpture and installation work, as well as his use of found and recycled materials.
The highly polished wave patterns on the top surface reflects the light in reference to the other meaning the Waitematā carries, that being, “the waters reflective as polished volcanic glass“. This references the island of Matā from which the Waitematā takes its name. Where ancestors of Ngāti Pāoa from the Te Arawa waka laid the Te Matā mauri stone on their arrival from Hawai’iki and carried out uruuruwhenua rituals.
Hauraki tradition talks of the taniwha, Ureia who would sun bath and scratch itself on a reef near Koraenga (Erin Point).
This references the rocky outcrop of Tikapa located on HoruhoruIsland, which is vested in Ngāti Pāoa and the site of uruuruwhenua rituals of those on the Tainui waka when they first arrived in Aotearoa. This artwork talks to the whakapapa connection and the significance of this island and also giving Tīkapa Moana (Hauraki Gulf) its name.
Inspired by the rusting steel of the wharf bollards, ship-sides and the gleaming steel of modern industry, these hand-wrought sculptures invite you to pause - and reflect – on the wonder of it all.
Undulating sparkling surfaces float on the shifting sands of the Travertine stone walls. Shimmering greens, blues and bright foamy whites, this artwork invites you to pause on your journey to contemplate Greening New Blueland. Inspired by the artist’s voyage to the Kermadec Trench that runs deep under the ocean north of New Zealand, observe the glassy fragility of the artwork’s surface and the earth’s ecosystems.
Esther McDonald of Thea ceramics has created a collection of bespoke angled vases for One Queen Street. Created in brutalist clay, the vessels are glazed in Thea’s own Kirikiri glaze, which imbues the surface with warmth and movement. Kirikiri translates in Te Reo Māori to shoreline or seashore, responding to One Queen Street’s waterfront location. The angled and interlocking vases are feminine forms, created to depict Hine-uku-rangi, the goddess of clay. She bore tamariki and mokopuna including, bedrock, wetland, greywacke, pounamu, grindstone, volcanic earth, shore reef, fern and kōkōwai, all of which are represented in Tāmaki Makaurau.
Pardington is well-known for her work photographing Māori taonga that is held within museum collections. For this series Pardington worked with Te Papa Mātauranga Māori curators at Museum of New Zealand, Te Papa Tongarewa in her response to One Queen Street Art Collection’s ‘Aukaha’ narrative. Pardington visited the vast stores at Te Papa where she connected with a selection of tauihu (waka prow carving) and taurapa (waka stern carving) which she then photographed. Her careful rendering of these objects reanimates them, highlighting their inherent mauri (the life spark or energy in all things), and in so doing returns them to life.
Reflecting the importance of the traditional processes of welcoming visiting groups, this name contributes a uniquely Māori element to this section of Commercial Bay. Referencing the open, hospitable and welcoming nature of Māori and New Zealand cultures. This name has been provided by Mana Whenua to mark this major threshold connecting to adjacent public space and facilities.
OKO means eye in Slovenian; the symmetry of the word is matched by the sculptures’ two-sided structure. It is like a giant, Orwellian, 360 degree vision eyeball-evoking colours of the planet. With its blue iris at one end, and a green one at the other; the large glass eye connotes both blindness and 360 degree seeing. Like a giant globe, with its green and blue evoking the colours of the planet.
The artwork’s genesis is a ripple captured from the wharf nearby. Wind back the clock 170 years and you are standing in the shallows of old Commercial Bay. The artist invites us to wonder at nature as if for the first time. The light within this artwork shifts throughout the day.
The timber soffit patterning connects the heavens down with those who use the space. It has traditional tukutuku patterning which includes a cross stich ‘X’ in varying placements within the concepts. The star-seeds design speaks of the great multitude and multiplication of people and communities like the stars above.
Two uniquely designed lights beam shine down into the laneways on both sides of the building. Maramataka is the traditional Māori lunar calendar and was the influence for the stencil concept. Certain days brought good luck for fishing, eeling, planting or harvesting. The designs speak of this unique relationship to the night and to the importance of this cycle.
Strong and robust materiality represented by kaokao designs that form graphic shapes between shifting shades - designed to reflect the levels of the buildings and terraces behind while including the glass canopy designs featured over the doorways. This relationship connecting the external spaces with the surrounding architecture is a reminder that when we sit and reflect on our connection to everything around us.
These represent a pair of crossed waka hoe (steering paddle) frame the entrance to the building. Without the insight and ability to steer a vessel, despite the power and speed that it gains, it will end up in the wrong location if careful navigation isn’t adhered to. These entrance symbols speak of the importance of great leadership and insight when moving into the future.
The glazed canopy above the main entrance acts as the bow of the waka. For many iwi the puhoro patterns adorns the underside of the bow symbolising speed and swiftness. The traditional scrolling and rounding patter was modified to create a sharp angle propelling the design forward into the future applying a more graphic aesthetic. The design symbolises the power and presence of this ‘great ship’ as an important vessel of change and innovation.
The Rātā tree design is a reflection of the collabration between mana whenua and the developers of 10 Madden. The tree cannot grow without a host, just like this development could not flourish without collaration and teamwork. Grooves between the panels act as the vine stems and branches, climbing high into the urban canopy like that of the towering trees within the ngahengahe (forest) connecting us back to te taiao (the natural environment).
From fire and Earth, to water and sky, this vertical sculpture nearby floats before a great travertine stone wall reminiscent of the sandstone cliffs of old Tāmaki. The artwork is a rippling trace of a water droplet that breathes in and out of a Fibonacci spiral. 1,600 paint balls frozen mid-flight.
Planetary trajectory, red orbs of fire, created from a starburst and blown and burnished in a furnace in Auckland’s west. Circling above your head, high up and down low, it recedes and pops with the light through the day. Like the artist who was born in Britain and now calls Auckland home, this artwork travels. It’s a drawing and a sculpture in space encompassing multiple spheres of art.
This illusion pulls your focus into the artwork so you get lost in the piece while maintaining a sense of calm. A pattern to symbolise swell lines gives the illusion of the vast colours of the ocean. A strong tribal energy felt as though it was coming through the piece so this was dedicated to Ngati Whatua Orakei.
These mid-19th century wharf piles were uncovered below Commercial Bay durig excavation and are part of the original Queen Street wharf. Before the Auckland waterfront was reclaimed, Queens Wharf extended through the Commercial Bay site and was a place of bustling trade and activity. The basalt rocks were part of the original sea wall located below Little Queen Street.
Arbuckle creates paintings via processes of compositional staining on translucent fabric, which is then wrapped, twisted, folded and draped over found surfaces and structures. The resulting work is like an imprint of experience, carrying the stains of supports and creases of time, like a floating visual landscape. These sculptural paintings create a direct relationship with the viewer, inviting them to make their own impressions of the imagined landscapes and watery horizon lines, connecting with the small marks and sediments that indicate the work’s strong sense of place.
Aukaha thinks through the One Queen site as a place of convergence between communities and our environment. Created from multiple glass spheres, the installation creates a multi-sensory whole that brings together the blues of the Waitemata Harbour and the Hauraki Gulf, with the green of the coastlines around Tāmaki Makaurau. Sunlight illuminates the coloured spheres creating an immersive environment that is activated by visitors’ movements so that washes of blue and green ebb and flow converging and connecting across the space.
The façade lighting show narrative follows the story of Mataoho. “The deity Mataoho lived in Te Ipu-a-Mataoho (the bowl of Mataoho – Mt Eden's crater). When his wife left him, taking all his clothes, Mataoho called on the goddess Mahuika. The fire she sent to warm him formed Ngaa Huinga-a-Mataoho (the gathered volcanoes of Mataoho)”.
This tukutuku panel has been created from kiekie (flax) and basalt stones sourced from Ngāi Tai Ki Tāmaki ancestral lands. Incorporating a variety of weaving stitches including ‘Tūmatakahuki’ - binding together and creating a strong foundation; 'purapura’ remembering loved ones passed on; and ‘pātikitiki’ representing the fertile abundance of Te Waitematā.
When the moana flows over the seaside grass, the flight of the Kūaka is straight. At the time of the full and new moons in March, when the spring tides flow over the marshes and mudflats within the coastal feeding grounds, the Kūaka rise and fly straight to their nesting grounds in Northeast Siberia and Alaska.
The descent of Manawatere across the ocean waves of Tīkapa moana. The pattern talks about Manawatere gliding over the ripples of the waves to Tikapa Moana from Hawaiki.
The brave children of Taikehu. Referring to the abundance of kanae (mullet) in the Manuka (Manukau) so many they could catch one in each hand.
The waka of Taikehu, like unto a shoal of herrings filling the sea. This whakatauākī likens the once numerous waka on Te Waitematā to a great shoal of fish.
This artwork was inspired by the shifting colours out on the Waitematā harbour and the ever-changing skies above Tāmaki Makaurau. The name Ororangi has been bestowed on the work by Kaumātua Tautoko Witika. It has many meanings, and one is “blessings from heaven”. This piece comprises 40,000 metres of double satin ribbon and 4489 suspended elements which include finishing sinkers.
Senior uku artist Wi Taepa’s clay sculptures reflect the moment when elements blend, and when people come together. Tū Tangata translates as ‘Stand Together’ and speaks to One Queen as a site where nationalities come together, supporting each other. Teapa’s large-scale sculptures created from clay and rocks, also represent the coming together of geological forces and human activity, and tell stories from mythology. His work highlights the whakapapa (genealogy) of uku (ceramic) which connects him directly back to the primordial union (then separation) of Rangi and Papa—particularly to Papa (the Earth Mother).