Building decoration

Have driven by the new Kumutoto development on the waterfront (previous post) a few times in the last couple of days on the Monty mission and finally snapped a picture of this new building.



What’s up with the louvres/louvers*? At first I thought they’d left the scaffolding up, then wondered if they were outside shutters operated by a little screw handle on the inside like so many shuttered homes in Europe.


Have scratched around and worked out that it’s the new building for Meridian Energy and is the first ‘green’ building in NZ – warming and powering itself by natural elements and its own recycling.


Based on their press release, the louvres could be part of either of these:



  • A double-skinned façade to manage the internal environment.
  • Photovoltaic solar panels to generate a small amount of electricity.
  • A computerised building management system that automatically adjusts windows, lights and air conditioning for the weather conditions outside.

* spelling of this word is somewhat ambiguous seeming to be used in either format in New Zealand and in some case in both formats at the same time. My gut feeling is ‘louvre’ but have included ‘louver’ as well to show that in this case I’m not sure and that I accept there may be another spelling of it. 

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