Michael Fowler Centre
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The Michael Fowler Centre is a concert hall and convention centre in
Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by metr ...
, New Zealand. It was constructed on
reclaimed land Land reclamation, usually known as reclamation, and also known as land fill (not to be confused with a waste landfill), is the process of creating new land from oceans, seas, riverbeds or lake beds. The land reclaimed is known as reclamati ...
next to Civic Square, and is the pre-eminent concert site in central Wellington. Commissioned in 1975, building began in 1980; the centre officially opened on 16 September 1983. It was designed by
Miles Warren The mile, sometimes the international mile or statute mile to distinguish it from other miles, is a British imperial unit and United States customary unit of distance; both are based on the older English unit of length equal to 5,280 English ...
and Maurice Mahoney of Warren and Mahoney, with acoustic assistance from Professor A. Harold Marshall, formerly the Head of
Auckland University , mottoeng = By natural ability and hard work , established = 1883; years ago , endowment = NZD $293 million (31 December 2021) , budget = NZD $1.281 billion (31 December 2021) , chancellor = Cecilia Tarrant , vice_chancellor = Dawn F ...
's Acoustics Research Centre. It is named after the primary promoter of its construction, Sir Michael Fowler, at the time the
mayor of Wellington The Mayor of Wellington is the head of the municipal government of the City of Wellington. The mayor presides over the Wellington City Council. The mayor is directly elected using the Single Transferable Vote method of proportional representat ...
. The auditorium seats 2210 people during a concert, and 1035 during a classroom type event.


Events and performances

The centre is used by international and local acts, conferences, and summits; it is also the home of the
New Zealand Symphony Orchestra The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra (NZSO) is a symphony orchestra based in Wellington, New Zealand. The national orchestra of New Zealand, the NZSO is an autonomous Crown entity owned by the Government of New Zealand, per the New Zealand Symph ...
,
Orchestra Wellington Orchestra Wellington is New Zealand's oldest professional regional orchestra, based in the capital city of Wellington. It hosts an annual subscription series of concerts in the Michael Fowler Centre, performing varied repertoire from the Class ...
, and Arise Church. The venue is now part of the Venues Wellington group of venues, managed by the Wellington Regional Economic Development Agency.


Exterior lighting

The exterior of the Michael Fowler Centre contains a lighting system which allows light to be reflected off the concrete panels of the building. These lights have been used to mark significant occasions such as local LGBT Pride events, one hundred and twenty five years of
women's suffrage in New Zealand Women's suffrage in New Zealand was an important political issue in the late nineteenth century. In early colonial New Zealand, as in European societies, women were excluded from any involvement in politics. Public opinion began to change i ...
, the birth of
Prince George of Cambridge Prince George of Wales (George Alexander Louis; born 22 July 2013) is a member of the British royal family. He is the eldest child of William, Prince of Wales, and Catherine, Princess of Wales. George is the eldest grandchild of King Charle ...
, or in memory of the victims of the November 2015 Paris attacks. File:michael_fowler_centre_20_march_2018_1.jpg, Michael Fowler Centre lit in the colors of the trans flag on 21 March 2018 in remembrance of Zena Campbell. File:Michael Fowler Centre Wellington 15 March 2019 a.jpeg, Michael Fowler Centre lit in the colors of the rainbow flag in March 2019.


See also

* List of concert halls


References


External links

* * {{Authority control Convention centres in New Zealand Concert halls in New Zealand Buildings and structures in Wellington City Tourist attractions in Wellington City 1980s architecture in New Zealand Brutalist architecture in New Zealand Wellington Central, Wellington