Jump with a twist
THE PACIFICA IS AUCKLAND’S NEWEST and tallest apartment building, rising from the former foreshore area on the corner of Commerce and Fort Streets in a flurry of swirling glazing to astound a casual visitor to Auckland like myself. With the arrival of this building, we no longer live in a completely rectilinear and orthogonal world but in a world where a 178m-high skyscraper can swirl its skirts like a flamenco dancer. Where on earth did this come from? How did this come about? Therein lies a tale.
Apartment living is steadily growing more adherents in our queen city, despite its being only a few decades since the first tentative steps were made to live within the central city. Back in the day, city centres were for business and the ’burbs were for living in, with just a few hip urbanistas living in apartment buildings like the Mayfair and Courtville. But, add a couple of million more people, most of whom seem to want to live in Auckland, and
