While there are hundreds of motor vehicle showrooms throughout New Zealand, few of them are distinctive enough to be considered landmark structures. With its prime location and complex use of curves and angles, one recent Auckland development might appear to be worthy of this classification.
Previously, the corner of Broadway and St Marks Road in Newmarket, Auckland was the site of an uninspiring, difficult to navigate showroom and service facility. The site is now occupied by Andrew Simms Mitsubishi a dealership housed in a newly-completed, $10 million facility that features several architectural highlights, including an eye-catching glass-sheathed rotunda and large cantilevered overhanging eaves.
Michael O'Sullivan from the Bull/O'Sullivan Architecture team who developed the concept, says the showroom was the result of intensive collaboration with property owner Mitsubishi Motors New Zealand and latterly, Andrew Simms Mitsubishi.
"Two primary goals were to draw pedestrians off Broadway into the showrooms and to stop motorists at the busy Great South Road, Broadway, and St Marks Road intersection, just as Times Square in New York does. The showrooms also had to work for Mitsubishi Motors at all times."
Achieving this meant incorporating effective night architecture. To this end, a glass-walled rotunda fitted with a rotating display turntable was developed. One of few of its kind in New Zealand, the turntable provides constant interior movement. Lit by a feature ceiling lighting system, designed to represent an alloy mag wheel, the rotunda instantly draws the eye of passing commuters.
Supporting this use of light, the dealership is demarcated on both street frontages by lightsticks. As well as meeting council requirements for a clearly defined border, these light the yard and allow evening pedestrians to inspect cars at their leisure.
The dealership is composed of various facets: showrooms, managerial and reception facilities, a customer lounge, boardroom, a prominent rotunda delivery suite and a linking bridge. A continuous ramped path binds the structure's two main sections and extends outside the building to meet the Broadway footpath.