Mark Todd, urbanist and co-founder of Ockham Residential, believes Auckland Tāmaki Makaurau is finally coming into its own as one of the Australasia’s loveliest cities.
“Just in the last decade, Auckland’s been feeling more and more bold and aspirational. It’s vibrant, the arts and culinary scenes are amazing – it feels as if this teenager is emerging as a cosmopolitan young adult.”
Recognising this rite of passage, Ockham’s latest development, The Greenhouse, situated on the corner of Pollen Street and Williamson Avenue in Ponsonby, pushes the envelope in an apartment scene that started with elegant buildings for discerning city residents in the 1900s, and went through disastrous commercial conversions in the wake of the 1987 sharemarket crash, followed by the leaky building controversy of the 1990s.
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The Greenhouse offers studios, one, two and three-bedroom apartments. Photo / Supplied
While Todd acknowledges that others’ earlier offerings in this contemporary era have been pleasant and proficient, he isn’t a fan of rigid modernism and believes that people want curves and bevelling, arches, and colour in their homes and surroundings.
“As humans we love design and detail,” he says. “We want our architecture to be inclusive, which means we hope nine out of 10 members of the public will walk past The Greenhouse and say, ‘Well, that’s a nice building’.”
Todd explains that Tāmaki Makaurau’s natural surroundings have been key in defining The Greenhouse’s unique personality.
“We took the harbour, the bush, the beaches, sand and mountains as inspiration, and we’re not afraid of character – in fact a couple of people have referred to The Greenhouse as being very ‘Gotham City’, especially at night, and we like that.”
The joy he is taking in The Greenhouse is the result of 25 years in the construction business, the past dozen of which have involved designing and building apartments.
The Greenhouse has 150,000 signature iridescent green-glazed bricks imported from Italy that adorn its walls. Photo / Supplied
“I was an apartment dweller before I was an apartment developer and it’s a lifestyle I absolutely love,” Todd says.
He points out that The Greenhouse is right next door to Ponsonby’s Countdown supermarket – and just one block off Ponsonby Road – meaning many of its residents will rarely need to use their cars.
He and the rest of the Ockham team hope that The Greenhouse, with its 150,000 glorious signature iridescent green bricks, imported from Italy (after examining samples from nine other countries), will become a landmark building, instantly recognised by Auckland residents – and will even make its mark internationally.
It will be the country’s tallest brick-clad building to date, and is set to imminently rise from the ground, with a two-storey basement carpark recently completed.
Mark Todd, co-founder of Ockham Residential, is excited at the prospect of meeting, greeting and interacting in the communal areas. Photo / Supplied
Todd says he can’t wait to see the development’s strong, distinctive outline, complete with a spectacular terminating roof, appear on the Grey Lynn skyline.
He has a particular interest as the owner of the building’s penthouse apartment, which incorporates not only a sizeable lawn, but also a giant glasshouse in the sky, where he plans to indulge his love of gardening in general and, especially, growing flowers.
So far, the purchasers of apartments in The Greenhouse have been “a lovely, eclectic bunch of people”, Todd says.
With a move-in date projected for September 2023 he’s already excited at the prospect of meeting, greeting and interacting in the communal areas – an aspect of apartment living which is characteristically the centrepiece of Ockham’s various city developments.
Other Greenhouse signature elements that bring him particular pleasure lie around the building’s design, notably the influence of New Zealand’s kea, an endangered and incredibly intelligent bird, that has lent its colour to the building’s features.
With a move-in date projected for September 2023, The Greenhouse will change the Grey Lynn skyline. Photo / Supplied
Todd says that the underside of its wing, with its dark greeny-blue iridescence and the suppleness of its feathers have inspired Ockham’s designers to soften certain lines in The Greenhouse’s architecture, for a more easy and relaxed effect.
At its heart, according to Todd, the development is really all about what’s new and unfurling, sprouting and renewing.
The Greenhouse offers a range of living options including studio apartments plus one and two-bedroom residences, where flexi-possibilities allow for home offices. A limited number of ultra-luxurious properties are still available on the development’s upper levels.
Studio apartments are priced from $840,000; a one-bedroom plus flexi from $1.4 million; a two-bedroom from $1.675m; and a three-bedroom from $4.5m. Joss Lewis, Zara Kehoe and Lisa Redgrove, of Ockham Residential, are marketing the property.
- Sponsored by Ockham Residential.