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New
Lynn Community Centre
About the arts/design process
New Lynn Community Centre is the first major facility in the city to fully incorporate an arts/design process. A lead artist joined the design team at the very beginning of the project, both to contribute to the development of the design and to discover, at an early stage, where arts projects could be woven into the building.
Local artist Neil Miller was selected to be the lead artist, and has followed the project through to completion. Following the identification of sites, a group of artists were invited to participate. This has resulted in seven commissioned artworks that are sympathetically and attractively integrated into the building, enhancing the architecture and adding a local and historic colour to the Centre.
The projects
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Neon Light Installation : Paul Hartigan
 Signal-Echo is made up of sixteen neon light wands, which work in sequence to create a pattern of light and movement - a "light dance". These individual lighting elements "signal" one another across the building's fascia, generating a sense of change across the architectural structure, which echoes the constantly evolving change in the New Lynn community.
A history of "light signals" in the Waitakere area, emanating from radio towers and communication beacons was the initial inspiration for this work.
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Wayfinder Sculpture : Caroline Robinson
 Wayfinder - a breath of our shared journey is a vessel symbolically carrying the history, hopes and dreams of the New Lynn communities.
The shape simultaneously reflects that of a waka and of a seed pod. The waka symbolises all the vessels which have brought people to New Lynn, from earliest times. The pod form honors the local natural environment (once known as Te Rewarewa).
Along the spine or keel are numerous scrolls. Each scroll holds the words of one (or more) local people.
This piece was developed through liaison with a concept team made up of eight people from the local community: Sarah Foote, Ros Gardiner, Dave Harre, Sally Liu, Neil Miller, Enuake Sirikige, Rewi Spraggon and Stella Suailua-Sagele. The team was facilitated by Caroline Robinson. This project was funded by Council from a special Millennium Fund.
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Signal Sculpture : Neil Miller
 Signal Sculpture runs along the lower roofline on the southern wall of the Centre, parallel with the railway line, and acts as - a visual palisade above the defensive embankment.
It's placement also acts in opposition, and parallel, to the welcoming column at the front of the building.
Miller likes the idea of the Community Centre as a "station", a place of meeting and movement. The intense colours used in this piece, including the use of highly reflective road sign film, were chosen to compete with the commercial colour schemes of the local area.
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Foyer Floor : Judy Millar
 The pattern of weaving lines stretching across the foyer floor makes reference to woven matting, as well as the inter-weaving of the many cultures and community groups who will use the centre.
It is hoped that visiting children will invent games around the lines; jumping over them or playing within the pattern. The coloured lines are not unlike those painted on the floor of the basketball court.
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Light Boxes : Esther Leigh
 The subtle changes in natural light are captured and emphasised by two translucent lightboxes set in the exterior doorways of the main hall.
The ever-changing qualities of light are refracted and reflected by glass and mirror forms inside the sandblasted glass cases. This work pays homage to American installation artist James Turrell, whose work encourages the viewer to observe subtle changes of light over periods of time.
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Video Projection : Allan MacDonald
 Proof Only: New Lynn Photographs uses images from the 19th century to the present day to create a narrative of the place and its people. This is essentially a journey through the daily working lives of New Lynn's citizens, taking in the well-known brick making and tanning industries that were central to the early growth of New Lynn.
Many of the photographs have not previously been exhibited or published. They are drawn from both public collections (such as Henderson Library and the Auckland War Memorial Museum), and private family collections, and between them, trace the public and private strands in the rich weave that is the community today.
The projection is designed to be seen from the street at night, when the building is closed. It will operate as an art spectacle enlivening the interior of the building at random intervals during the hours of darkness.
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Mural : Barbara Grace
 The mural situated on the second floor of the Centre is a pictorial documentation of people from around the New Lynn area. Grace sees these images, sourced from photographs, as: "fragments, captured and frozen moments of time". They scatter the walls like remnants of wallpaper.
Threading through the background are superimposed drawings of buildings from New Lynn's past: The New Lynn Hotel built in 1881 and still standing in Great North Road; the first civic building - the Town Board Office built in 1911; and the Delta Cinema which opened in1929 and closed in 1986.
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New Lynn Mosaics
 More
than 50 local residents were involved in creating these mosaics, which
incorporate crockery produced at the former Crown Lynn Potteries in Clark
Street, New Lynn. The images depict historic sites and themes important to
the area.
 The artwork was officially unveiled by Waitakere City
Councillor Derek
Battersby and blessed by the Rev Judy Cooper in August, 2001.
The project was co-ordinated by artists Janet Holtrigter and Estelle
Bellamy.
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