Queen Street Pavilion

The brief was for a small café to be designed to occupy a portion of the refurbished forecourt of the One Queen Street building in downtown Auckland. Located adjacent to QEII Square, the café serves the tenants in the main building, providing added amenity to the surrounding area, thus revitalising the forecourt.

Inspired by the shipping containers on the wharves and the glass canopies nearby, S&T designed the café as a box formed of steel and glass. In its smallest form, it occupies the same area as a tree planter previously in its position, but the large hinged glass doors that act as walls can be freely moved to give outdoor space shelter from the wind. The outstretched roof canopies further enhance the notion of a container that can be folded or unfolded at will. It is as much a piece of interactive urban furniture as a fully functioning café space that serves the city.

“I like this place; it is a welcome folly in downtown Auckland, and in afternoon and morning light it’s positively radiant” - Nicole Stock, Architecture Magazine, 2008

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