Model Citizens

Long before the drawing board or cardboard model, there was Lego. For many architects, these shiny, plastic blocks were irresistible – our first means of making and testing, and then breaking down our ideas to start again.

Which is why last night’s Model Citizens event was a lot of fun for our team of five architects, spatial, parametric and interior designers.

AGM’s Model Citizens competition, held as part of the New Zealand Institute of Architect’s (NZIA) Festival of Architecture, tasked teams from ten practices with building a Lego model on a surprise brief.

The brief? A museum to stand at the end of Wynyard Point and serve as a new cultural icon for New Zealand.

Teams raced the clock to build the icon and its contents. Final designs were impressive, including Context’s M.S. Escher inspired ‘Aqua museum’, a series of cascading waterfalls befitting of Auckland’s waterfront precinct.

Proceeds from the event purchase Lego sets for schools in need. A great way to encourage the next generation of creative design thinkers.

Thank you to AGM for creating the event, held at IMO showroom, and to sponsors Fisher & Paykel and Resene.

Design teams from ten Auckland practices came together to support local schools.

Aqua Museum - Wynyard Quarter's imagined cultural icon.