This building is a site specific response to the existing Auckland central business district context, and to the history of this sacred Maori site which was once a fertile river valley that flowed into the Waitemata Harbor. The building embraces a material strategy to acknowledge the former location of the land/sea edge, and to create an “anchor” to recall the former location of the harbor.

The building has been designed to respond to the variable scale of context of the whole city block. This is achieved by the podium being scaled and articulated to both the width of the adjacent streets and the height of the buildings on the opposite side of the street. Many are identified as historic buildings of their period and the boundary alignment of such a collection of buildings becomes a significant urban design and streetscape determinant. Thus the podium was developed to ensure the special character of this heritage precinct in downtown Auckland is respected and revitalized. The overall massing of the building is comprised of vertical sliding gestures that emphasize the building height, reference the most important intersection in the city and playfully recall the
previous alignment of Auckland’s Harbor. In addition to these broad moves, a finer scale is achieved by a varied use of façade materials and articulation that respond to orientation. A triple skin on the west elevation with automatic louvers regulates airflow through the cavity and creates a highly transparent façade.

Winter gardens distributed over six levels create interconnecting voids that animate the podium spaces to deliver a high performance work place. The two tenants in this building—the Bank of New Zealand and Deloitte Ltd—have very different work styles. To most effectively accommodate these two work styles, the building shifts from a large floor plate central core building at podium level to an offset/end core in smaller floors through the tower. This shift in floor plate configuration was achieved while also avoiding any structural transfers.

The Deloitte Centre is a pilot project for the introduction of the New Zealand Green Building Council rating system. This building is the most environmentally sustainable commercial office building in New Zealand and pioneered the development of the system.