Te Ngākau Civic Square is a public square in central

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 me ...

, New Zealand, between the Wellington central business district to the north and the

Te Aro Te Aro (formerly also known as Te Aro Flat) is an inner-city suburb of Wellington, New Zealand. It comprises the southern part of the central business district including the majority of the city's entertainment district and covers the mostly fla ...

entertainment district to the south.

Characteristics

Te Ngākau Civic Square is located at 101 Wakefield Street, Wellington. The square is surrounded by council buildings, each with a distinctive architectural style:

Wellington Town Hall The Wellington Town Hall ( mi, Te Whare Whakarauika) is a concert hall and part of the municipal complex in Wellington, New Zealand, which opened in December 1904. It has been closed to the public since the 2013 Seddon earthquake, and it is curr ...

and council offices, the

Michael Fowler Centre The Michael Fowler Centre is a concert hall and convention centre in Wellington, New Zealand. It was constructed on reclaimed land next to Civic Square, and is the pre-eminent concert site in central Wellington. Commissioned in 1975, building be ...

, the Central Library, the

City to Sea bridge The City to Sea Bridge is a pedestrian bridge and public artwork located in Wellington City, New Zealand. Opened on 31 October 1993, the wedge-shaped bridge crosses arterial road Jervois Quay, connecting the public spaces of Civic Square to the ...

, and the City Gallery. The main tiled area is the roof of the underground library car park. The square is paved with yellow terracotta bricks and has an iconic

Neil Dawson Francis Neil Dawson (born 6 November 1948) is a New Zealand sculptor, best known for his large-scale civic pieces crafted from aluminium and stainless steel, often made using a lattice of natural forms which between them form a geometric whole. ...

sculpture, a 3.4 metre diameter sphere using sculpted leaves of several ferns endemic to New Zealand, suspended 14 metres over its centre. The wide City-to-Sea pedestrian bridge acts as a gateway from Civic Square to Wellington's waterfront. The square is used for public events and is a popular place for office workers to eat their lunch on warm summer days. CivicSquare

History

The first real plans for the Civic Square date back to 1944. In 1987, the

Wellington City Council Wellington City Council is a territorial authority in New Zealand, governing the country's capital city Wellington, and ''de facto'' second-largest city (if the commonly considered parts of Wellington, the Upper Hutt, Porirua, Lower Hutt and ...

appointed Fletcher Development and Construction Ltd as the project developers. The project involved building a new library, conversion of the existing library into the City Gallery, extension and refurbishment of City Council buildings, earthquake strengthening and refurbishment of the Town Hall, car parking space, design of the new public space and a link to the waterfront. The project was completed in 1992. On 14 June 2018, as part of the City Council's new te reo Māori policy, Te Taiahu, the Square was renamed to "Te Ngākau Civic Square". The new name, meaning 'the heart', was gifted to the city by local

iwi Iwi () are the largest social units in New Zealand Māori society. In Māori roughly means "people" or "nation", and is often translated as "tribe", or "a confederation of tribes". The word is both singular and plural in the Māori language, an ...

Taranaki Whānui ki te Upoko o te Ika a Māui.

References

External links

Wellington City Council Art and Architecture
{{DEFAULTSORT:Te Ngakau Civic Square Wellington City Tourist attractions in Wellington City Squares in New Zealand Wellington Central, Wellington

Characteristics

History

See also

References

External links