London Quay

Picton with its population of only 4000 is remote from city pressures. But it needed a waterfront to provide a focus and heart for the town – a place that would also help it host the hundreds of thousands of ferry passengers that pass through the town every year. Changing uses of waterfront land presented the opportunity to look to the town’s historic and present social patterns – exploring how the community has adapted, changed and used its public space over time. These social patterns have informed the reclamation of this historically significant area of public realm that over the history of the Sounds and Picton Waterfront has served visitors and inhabitants as a meeting place.

Design of the landscape elements and furniture throughout the Town Square and Promenade draw from the project concepts of ‘looking out and coming ashore’. Furniture elements are located along the lines of movement to and from the heart of the square, these elements collide with each other and the stepped terraces to create varying forms which accommodate activity – perching, reclining, leaning and sitting. Colour has been used to enhance the visual representation of this concept of dual facing elements.

The perforated side panels to the seats and poles are painted in either vibrant Resene Uracryl 403 tinted to Resene Supernova providing a strong accent and animation to different views across the site, or Resene Blast Grey 1 metallic finish to provide a visually recessive, calm complement to the base furniture colour of Resene Pure Pewter metallic finish. The panel product specifications combine both a contrast and complement of finished texture – the flatter textured metallic with the gloss enhances the duality of the colour selection.

Design of the light poles painted in Resene Pure Pewter metallic ease the tall structures into the currently open site. Straight single poles combine with clusters of bending poles, arranged at key locations to evoke the masts of the adjacent boats around the marina. As with the seating cut panels finished in Resene Blast Grey 1 or Resene Supernova are located on each pole to respond to the particular views.

The use of the Resene Pure Pewter for the furniture structures and in particular on the circular section poles makes the most of the light reflective qualities of the paint, softening the visual presence while complementing the weathered finish of the timbers, stone and concretes used within the wider project. The overall colour palette of the project either being drawn from or a considered addition to the colours of the surrounding landscape. Resene Supernova is reminiscent of the yellow used on Picton’s branded furniture and logo as well as being represented in the planting of the project. The Resene Uracryl 403 usefully also provides excellent graffiti durability to larger surface areas of painted steel.

Architectural Specifier: Boffa Miskell
Building Contractor: Heb Construction
Client: Marlborough District Council
Colour Selection: Boffa Miskell
Photographer: Nick Kneale, Michael Hawes, Haarkon Carruthers, Boffa Miskell
Winner: Resene Landscape Colour Maestro Award Winner
Project: Resene Total Colour Awards 2012

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