Waterfront poll

File under: waterfront, architecture, landscape architecture, urbanism, Wellington

Today's Dominion Post has a large spread on pages A10-11 dedicated to the Frank Kitts Park and Kumutoto design competitions. There's also an online slideshow and poll, inviting you to vote for your preferred entries.

That's an admirable step towards engaging the public, but I'd urge some caution before voting online. I've been to both exhibitions several times and mulled over the entries, and I don't think I'm ready to play favourites yet. Between the two competitions, there are 11 schemes, each of which deals with multiple buildings, functions and public spaces. That's a huge amount to take in, and given that the online images only give you a tiny overview of the whole scheme or a small rendering of a single building, without the multiple perspectives, plans and explanatory text of the entries themselves, there's nowhere near enough information to make an informed decision.

For the sake of participation, I'll probably click one of the boxes on the poll today based on a gut feeling, but I'm still planning a series of in-depth posts about each entry, and it won't be until I've gone through the analysis required for that that I'll be able to know which I prefer. If you are planning to take part in the (totally unofficial) online survey, please make sure you get down to the Waterfront Project Information Centre and spend some time with the full entries before casting your vote.