Photo: Jeremy Toth
Nat Cheshire a delineator at Cheshire Architects has excellent taste when it comes to all things design related. Having spent a dozen years in architecture, he came to Cheshire Architects five years ago. He describes architecture as a 'total' practice with very little that is out of bounds. 'We move organically from huge institutional work to fabricating door handles, furniture, clothes, and so on. I have been working intensively with our team on a campus at Leigh for the university of Auckland, enormous luxury lodges, and a host of inner-city projects spread between Britomart and High Street - boutique hotel towers, bars, restaurants, and large-scale heritage conversions.
With his expansive work load, and excellent eye for design, Nat's the perfect choice for our new column - My City in which we ask coveted designers and architects about the cities they live in.
Nat Cheshire's favourite things in Auckland are...
Favourite Architectural Moment.
Peeling off the Southern Motorway at Wellesley and Port - Grafton Bridge sweeping overhead, the crystalline concrete student towers looming at west, and the port and harbor emerging ahead…a real city, at speed!
Favourite Breakfast Spot.
Sheinkin on Lorne. Because aside from them, breakfast in the central city is rubbish. And in spite of this, they’re good enough to be the favourite in any part of town. 3 Lorne Street, Auckland City.
Favourite Design Moment.
The racks at Scotties Boutique, after your breakfast at Sheinkin next door. Local heavyweights like Beth Ellery and Camille Howie holding their own against Dries, Demeulemeester and Lanvin.
Favourite Lunch Spot.
Albert Park. The tips of the city poking above a ribbon of green, an elevated spot in the dappled shade of a Moreton Bay Fig, and an entertaining collection of drunks, regressive hippies, and lazy students. How to slow down in the city.
Favourite Bar/Nightspot.
Coco’s Cantina on KRd. You don’t have to organize to meet your friends – they’ll just be there anyway (376-378 K- Road). And also the one we’re in the thick of building now, in Britomart: big, grunty, 130 year old trading building meets a couple of the city’s finest bar operators and restaurateurs…nine weeks to go…
Best People Watching.
From the terrace at Rakinos – in the bowl of the city, High Street’s darlings parading below, and the great unwashed cool of Rakinos’ bohemia swirling around you (Level 1, 35 High Street, Auckland).
Best Thing About My City.
From breakfast at Sheinkin to the lineup at a windswept, roaring Piha in half an hour…who else has this?
I'd recommend people to stay at.
A friend’s, on the living room floor, and spend the money on better champagne.
On a sunny day I'd head to.
The beach – an oldie but a goodie, and we have them in spades.
Must see attraction.
Karekare. You take an urbane visitor straight out of Tokyo or Florence, and they’ll tremble – with joy or sublime terror, it does not matter.
I recommend you meet.
A stranger, buy them a drink, and make friends.
