Description:

The Karanga Plaza Jump Platform is a new piece of public infrastructure which enables and celebrates urban swimming within Auckland’s inner-city waterfront. The design approach seeks to provide a clearly legible, sculptural intervention within an existing public space, enabling safe swimming and expressing an enhanced connection to the marine environment in the form of the structure. An accompanying cluster of seats provides a place to gather and view.

The platform is situated at the edge of Te Waitematā Harbour, and this context imbues the platform with site specific meaning and a connection to the diversity of marine life beneath. Conceptually, this is expressed as a melding together of marine narratives, allowing the viewer to choose their own interpretation.

Depending on where you are standing, you might perceive the structure as gills, scales, or a mollusc attached to the face of the old sea wall. This layered concept has informed the detailing and materiality of every element within the project. The distinctive blue tone was selected for it’s dynamism under different lighting conditions, mirroring the glistening surface of Te Waitematā.

The form, consisting of 24 individual profiles was modelled using rhinocerous and shared with the manufacturer for digital cutting from marine grade aluminium. The ‘skeleton’ was then assembled and finished by hand.

In defining the form of the jump platform, the design team has explored the physical parameters of a swimmer leaping into the water to drive the overall configuration of the structure. This informs the cantilevered shape of the platform and it’s subtle elevation above the existing plaza – both announcing it’s presence and providing a more appealing place to jump from. Swimmers are directed through the shaping of the platform which tapers to a narrow section at ‘the jumping off point’.

Designed to offer a measure of visual permeability, the platform balustrade allows swimmers to perceive the dimensions of the water space below, and spectators to see through the structure as swimmers approach the edge. Jumping and swimming represents a unique ‘water theatre’ for visitors, residents and locals alike. The Karanga Plaza Jump Platform represents direct engagement between people and water, establishing a connection with water quality which is vital to waterfront cities globally.

The project has seen a significant increase in users swimming in the harbour, supporting the theatre of the urban waterfront and enhanced water-based culture in Tāmaki Makaurau / Auckland.