If there’s one thing this country loves, it’s holding onto stopgap structures for decades past their original use-by date. Mat Brown takes a look at 10 of his favourites.

Auckland’s Te Wero Bridge has endured (more or less) for over a decade, yet it was only supposed to be a short-term fix. With its recent repairs costing more than three times the original cost to build it, the bridge saga marks another chapter in the long story of New Zealand’s stubborn attachment to ostensibly temporary structures. Here’s more on the bridge, and a few more buildings that were never meant to stick around this long.

1. Te Wero Bridge

Also known as Wynyard Crossing, this is the lifting pedestrian bridge that connects Auckland’s city centre with Wynyard Quarter. Its origins lie in an open design competition for a $50 million bridge that could accommodate public transport, won by Melbourne-based Denton Corker Marshall in 2008. That brief was eventually abandoned in favour of a cheap and temporary alternative costing $3.7m, to be open in time for the 2011 Rugby World Cup. It was out of action for most of 2024, reopening late last year following a repair job which cost the council $10.6m, $3m more than originally estimated. We’re still not sure whether those repairs made it any more permanent.

2. The Cloud

Another “temporary” installation for the 2011 Rugby World Cup, the Cloud still sits proudly on Auckland’s Queen’s Wharf. Created as a downtown RWC fan zone and hospitality venue, the Cloud was designed for speed of construction, using repeated components. Today its wobbly membrane, best viewed from the harbour, continues to provide an impressive setting for corporate and hospo events. The Cloud’s steel-frame structure appears to be holding up well to the salty air, but for how long?

3. North Wharf

The third Auckland harbourfront structure on this list, the North Wharf hospitality precinct was opened along with the rest of the original Wynyard Quarter development in 2011. The three interconnected structures, housing a group of restaurants and bars, were designed to be removed for future development once their resource consents expire, which is rumoured to be soon. Given the disruption Wynyard Quarter has had recently, and the potential development of the Sanford Fisheries site nearby, it feels like their permanence won’t be challenged for some time.

4. America’s Cup bases

Over the years, the America Cup’s transient nature – and New Zealand’s ability to win it, and lose it, and win it but not keep it – has led to a series of sheds being constructed at the edge of Auckland’s waterfront. Built to house teams and their boats on a short-term basis, their fenced compounds severing the public’s access to the water’s edge, these bases are repurposed for other marine activity once the racing is over. The 2021 contest saw the construction of another round of bases with resource consents that required their removal within six months of the event’s completion. Team New Zealand, now evicted from the Viaduct Events Centre, still occupies a rebranded British base.

5. Britomart Pavilions

Back when Britomart as we know it today was first conceived, the area directly above Britomart train station was earmarked for significant future development. Today you can still enjoy a cup of coffee (and, more recently, a Duck Island ice cream) at the Britomart Pavilions, a series of long-term temporary buildings designed by Cheshire Architects for Cooper and Company, Britomart’s owner. Of all the buildings on this list, these feel most permanent, with brick walls, established landscaping and some real care and sensitivity in their design. But their future is not assured, so enjoy them while you can.

6. The Oaks

Completed in 1981, the building complex on the block between Cuba, Manners and Dixon Streets in Wellington’s city centre has had a number uses over the years, including retail, hospitality and even, in 2004, an illegal gambling den. Considered a temporary solution at the time of its construction, the Oaks’ prime location and under-exploited development potential ensure that its future is relitigated every now and then, with no result convincing enough to prompt its replacement, at least not yet.

7. School prefabs

Thanks to the ubiquitous school prefab, New Zealanders are accustomed to the joys of temporary buildings from a young age. Their lightweight construction sees them lifted above the ground to avoid rot, spawning ramps and stairs, and stitching the building into whatever piece of land on which they’ve been dropped. These inefficient boxes tend to provide students with poor daylight and limited ventilation, all wrapped in either a beige shade of white or a white shade of beige – but on the plus side, they’re cheap. Expect many of our young minds to be shaped in buildings like these for years to come.

8. The Christchurch Transitional Cathedral

Constructed of reinforced cardboard (and quite a lot else), the Transitional Cathedral was a new spiritual heart for Christchurch’s Anglican community following the destruction of the city-centre Christ Church Cathedral in the 2011 earthquake. A new take on the A-frame, the “cardboard cathedral” is built from 96 tubes resembling propped up sticks, all covered with a lightweight polycarbon skin. The whole thing screams impermanence; its very name suggests a structure that exists between two states. Yet more than a decade on, there’s no sign of the cardboard sagging, and the eventual moment when a demolition digger is driven through still feels a very long way away.

9. The Old Government House ballroom

Built in 1868 to host a party for Queen Victoria’s son Alfred, the ballroom attached to the back of Auckland’s Old Government House was envisaged as a temporary structure. It still exists today, with its dual stages – one for the Prince, another for the band – still intact, and it continues to host events. While the ballroom’s roof has doubled as a water feature once or twice in the past, it’s a great example of New Zealanders’ knack for getting their money’s worth – and more – from a so-called temporary building.

10. University of Auckland interim sports centre

A winner in the ‘Future Stars’ category, the interim sports centre was opened in 2020 to give Auckland University students somewhere to burn calories while the main recreation centre was redeveloped. Propped above a car park and wrapped in steel sheeting, the Wynyard St building was designed by RTA Studios in a way that allowed it to be dismantled and relocated once it was no longer needed. Now that the university’s main recreation centre has reopened, it’s unclear where this building’s future lies. But knowing New Zealand’s track record, we wouldn’t bet against it staying on the list of permanent temporary buildings for some time to come.