Cloaking a Christchurch parking building with 1,116 aluminium feathers required a feat of wind engineering. Engineers Lewis Bradford needed to make sure artist Lonnie Hutchinson’s stunning 6.5m high Kakahu façade design could withstand ‘Importance Level 4’ wind loads. So, they constructed a full-scale prototype that simulated extreme winds, to see if the feathers would stay put.

The large, light-weight aluminium sculpture was successfully installed as part of the Justice and Emergency Services Precinct, which opened in May 2018. It’s the perfect marriage of creativity and engineering, providing a traffic stopping platform for Lonnie Hutchinson’s largest-ever artwork and one of the most beautiful parts of the Christchurch CBD rebuild.

Our judges commented that the Kakahu façade embodies the essence of the Creativity award, using technical ability to help New Zealand designers have a much bigger canvas than they ever imagined.