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As a musician, the old way to make change was to be a social critic, to hold a mirror to society and leave the actual change to the politicians and engineers. That model doesn’t work anymore – and my theory is that it’s a good time for artists to actually get behind the pipes and see if they can make a difference.
Anthonie Tonnon is a musican, public advocate, and operator of Whanganui's Durie Hill ElevatorWhen I lived in Auckland, I became interested in urbanism and cities. But there were layers of professionals and other passionate people, so it was hard to see what I could add. In Whanganui, very soon after starting to advocate, I found I was able to meet and work with the highest levels of local government. And I think that is the case for a lot of things in Whanganui – we’re a very connected place. There’s something about the 50,00-people scale of Whanganui that means we all come into contact with each other.
A team and I now operate the Durie Hill Elevator: a unique, frequent public transport service – the only one of its kind in New Zealand. Operating in a City of Design allows me to talk about how well designed this city is for public and active transport. Sometimes that’s on purpose, sometimes by accident, sometimes despite ourselves.
The elevator is this amazing microcosm to explore the way that we plan, build, and move around our cities. It has a deep story to tell that is practical and much needed right now. The elevator opened in 1919 as part of a housing development with built-in transport. They were trying to find a way to house 2000 people. But they wanted to put them in a beautiful setting, and to get the setting they needed transport. So they built a tunnel and an elevator, and through that you get a design solution to a problem. And as a solution, it answers so many questions that are pressing right now, such as how do we build new developments where it’s going to be easy to get people back and forth without always getting in their car?
Project management is very difficult, and at some point you’re just hassling everybody to get their part of the job done in time. Everyone hates that stage. I’m renovating my bathroom right now, so I can testify to that. But there’s a magic stage in a build where it starts to come together. For us, it was that moment when the tiler said, “You know what, I’ve got white trim instead of aluminium trim, and it goes with your tiles.” And I think that’s what happened here. Someone said, “We have to have the motor housed on the summit. Why don’t we put a platform on top with a spiral staircase and let people see the view?”
When you do the basics right, sometimes you get the icing as well. For all of its practical value, it’s also a place of wonder. Every part of the elevator chimes with magic, whether it’s the echo at the bottom or the view at the top
Visit Whanganui's unique form of public transport: duriehillelevator.co.nz