Hopes new interactive art installation will refresh 'dangerous space'

An infamous park in central Auckland has received an $11 million facelift.

Renovations at Myers Park aim to improve its troubled reputation following multiple assaults and two high-profile killings in 2013 and 2015.

It is hoped an interactive art installation by Graham Tipene will reinvent the park's image with lights, sounds and shimmering waves.

The sculpture, called Waimahara, fills what used to be a dingy underpass below Mayoral Drive.

Enormous waves made from the same renewable chainmail used in The Lord of the Rings simulate flowing water as they sway in the wind.

Tipene said his piece represented the ancient river that still runs under the city.

"The original river that used to flow down here was Horotiu, and it flowed all the way down to Commercial Bay, so this river was then covered over and Queen Street now sits [above it]," he said.

"This piece is a recognition of the ancient waterways that were here and a way for us to help the city reconnect to those ancient waterways."

Tipene partnered with Auckland Council's public art project manager, David Thomas, to make it happen.

Thomas said the underpass needed some love.

"It was seen as a dangerous space, it has a bad reputation, it needed improvement," he said.

"The carpark area, it stank of urine and rubbish, it was just an ugly space. So it was the time for this place to be developed."

The installation is supported by a new wooden walkway leading through to a set of concrete stairs and a wheelchair accessible ramp.

The council's public art manager Hayley Wolters said it made the park a friendlier space.

"The intent has been to revitalise the midtown experience for Aucklanders," she said.

"We know [this] has felt like an unsafe space. Where public art has come involved is around enhancing the space to flip that experience."

She said plenty of seating was available for visitors to pause and appreciate the scenery.

"As you journey through you'll notice that there's this beautiful new amphitheatre that has been added, this beautiful ring of seating," she said.

"You can come and pause and reflect and spend a bit of time in a green space."

Head of city centre programmes Jenny Larking said a lot of effort had gone into making Myers Park a safer place.

"There's a lot of design features focused on safety, there have been extensive lighting improvements [for example]," she said.

"One of the most important parts of making it safe is we're able to draw people to it, so the more people that are around, the safer it will be."

But the installation's key attraction would not be finished until March 2024.

Then, visitors would be able to sing one of two waiata and watch the lights and sounds change, Tipene said.

"This is smack bang in part of the city's theatre hub, so we're hoping people coming to and leaving the theatres come through here and experience this," he said.

The entrance connects to the Q and Basement theatres, and is a stone's throw from The Civic.

"Then people can say: 'oh I wonder if I could give that a go'."

He said resources for learning the two waiata, which were composed specifically to accompany the sculpture, would be available online when the feature was installed.

Thomas admitted it had not been cheap.

"Eleven million dollars is the cost of the whole development, the new stairs, the boardwalk, the planting, and the artwork is about 10 percent of that," he said.

But it was worth the investment. "People want to live in the city centre, there are lots of apartments here and more to come," he said.

"We need to stop seeing city centres as dry, commercial places and [instead] as community spaces. They need community centres, they need libraries, they need parks."

Waimahara is accessible via an entrance on the corner of Mayoral Drive and Queen Street.