March 26, 2013
Consent given for new northland centre
The Whangarei District Council has given itself a resource consent to turn the former Northland Harbour Board building into an art centre designed by the late Friedensreich Hundertwasser.
In keeping with the wishes of the Austrian artist who made Tai Tokerau his adopted home, the centre will include a Māori cultural heritage centre.
It will also contain exhibition spaces, a museum, café, and retail shop.
The council is looking for almost half of the $13.6 million cost of the project to come from external sources.
The brightly-coloured two-storey building will a 24 metre high outdoor spiral staircase turret, columns with balls on top and a roof garden planted with indigenous species such as pohutukawa and kowhai.
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