The new apartment building, located in Upper Queen St, represent an example of responding to the need for increasing the intensity of development in Auckland. The project consists of 35 apartments arranged around a central stair and lift core above a commercial retail ground floor with car parking concealed behind the retail units at grade due to the site restriction with the Central Rail Link tunnel beneath the site.

The apartments are a mix of one and two-bedroom apartments to suit inner city dwellers as the target market, all apartments with three metre deep balconies across the full width of each apartment for generous outdoor living spaces in the heart of the city. 

The project responds to the immediate context with the development of a ‘heavy’ 3 level base fronting onto Upper Queen St with a mix of concrete and timber cladding and aligning with the neighbouring building to the north with a lighter articulation of the balconies on the upper four floors with steel and aluminium cladding and shutters. The building is further articulated with planter boxes on the lower levels to provide greenery and a sense of nature in the urban environment.

The rear of the building responds to the context of the adjoining heritage church with a vertical emphasis of the facade treatment with a series of vertical fins and narrow bi folding shutters. Each balcony has a series of shutters for the control of sunshade and privacy. There is a shared entrance to the east with a stair, lift lobby and letter boxes.

The end walls of the development are precast concrete panels with smooth and textured surfaces further enhanced with LED strip lighting to provide visual interest at night.

Materials are selected for their robustness and low maintenance with concrete, steel, and aluminium together with precast concrete planter boxes.