Sky Tower
— the needle the harbour points to.
Not only on a wall.
“328 metres above the harbour, the tallest freestanding structure in the southern hemisphere. From the main observation deck the city falls away to Rangitoto on one side and the Waitākere Ranges on the other. Glass panels in the floor make the ground vanish. At night the mast holds whatever colour the city has asked it to: green, gold, pink.
Sky Tower, on ceramic.
Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.
Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.
The place, in three passes.
Sky Tower stands on the corner of Federal and Victoria streets in central Auckland, on the North Island of Aotearoa New Zealand. It is 328 metres tall, the tallest freestanding structure in the southern hemisphere, and was completed in 1997 after two and a half years of construction. The main observation deck sits at 186 metres. The Sky Deck, the highest publicly accessible level, is at 220 metres. The base houses the SkyCity complex of hotels, theatres, restaurants, and a casino.
The tower is open every day of the year. Lifts climb to the main observation deck in about forty seconds, with glass-fronted cabs that look down through the shaft as you rise. The deck has three sections of structural-glass flooring. Standing on them is the most common reason first-time visitors describe being unsteady on the lifts down. The SkyJump, a controlled 192-metre wire descent from the pod, runs through the day. The SkyWalk circles the outside of the pod at the same level.
The mast is lit at night, and the colour changes through the year to mark national days, civic events, and awareness campaigns. Red and black for Waitangi Day, pink for Breast Cancer Awareness, rainbow for Auckland Pride. The schedule is published a fortnight in advance. From a yacht in the Waitematā Harbour, the tower is the brightest single point on the city skyline. From the Waitākere Ranges thirty kilometres west, it is the one structure that names Auckland from the dark.