SkyCity & The

Sky Tower

By Morgan McIntosh, Ben

Estrin & Christina Ivory

FacilitiesSkyCity- Opened February 2nd, 1996.

- SkyCity Auckland is the largest casino hotel in New Zealand.

- Includes the Sky Tower, two hotels, convention center, a theatre, 18 bars and restaurants with regular live entertainment.

- The casino provides almost 2000 jobs. It has returned $670 million in dividends to shareholders and $18.6 million has been paid to community organizations and trusts. 1.5% of the operating profit is, by law, paid out to charity.

- The casino has a large percentage of Asian customers, and undertakes special initiatives to cater for them.

Sky Tower- Construction began in 1994

and it was opened August 3rd, 1996.

- Built to be a telecommunications tower and observation deck, and has since become an iconic landmark in Auckland.

- Attracts an average of 1,150 visitors daily

- The tower is part of the SkyCity Auckland casino complex.

Planning• The chosen topic is a landscape (SkyCity & Sky Tower)

that has become an iconic visual representation of ‘Auckland’. This outcome has occurred through the application of new urban design and time.

• Augmented Reality (AR) can be applied to the topic; which through the use of effects, comes to demonstrate individual interpretation of the ‘familiar.’

• Examples of the research undertaken on the topic can be seen in the documents showing brainstorming of general ideas, focussing on our topic (SkyCity) with additional information on the associated site (Sky Tower)

Theory – Contextual DesignThe chosen theory to apply to our topic is conextual design. Focus will be on contextual inquiry, which is the first step one of this theory. This is the uncovering of who customers really are and how they work on a day-to-day basis in order to understand them – their needs, their desires and their approach to the work.

This is an appropriate theory to base our documentary movie on as the SkyCity complex is designed for and dependent on consumerism. Emotional

Experience

Experience of Meaning

Aesthetic Experience

ProductUser

User-Product Interaction

What is the message and narrative?

The message is the importance and significance of SkyCity and it’s facilities to New Zealand. The narrative is to explore two familiar (as seen in tourist publication and city messages) and iconic structures that have become imbedded in the visual look and attraction of Auckland. And to indicate the different ways that people interact with these buildings taken from the theory of conextual design/inquiry.

Narrative StructurePart One: SkyCity- Introduce SkyCity

facilities

- Interview with Lydia Jarman, SkyCity’s communications adviser, to explain the purpose of SkyCity and to answer questions we have generated

- Includes the Sky Tower, two hotels, convention center, a theatre, 18 bars and restaurants with regular live entertainment.

Part Two: Sky Tower- Set the setting of the

Sky Tower and include information/facts about the Sky Tower (over voice to accompany visuals)

- Feature some archival footage of the Sky Tower construction (if attainable)

- Insight into the Sky Tower’s main features, such as Orbit 360° Dining(New Zealand’s only revolving restaurant)

- Interview with tourists on their ‘Auckland experience’

Part Three: Sky Jump/Walk- Sky Jump

experience from start to end (getting into jumping gear – landing safely on the ground)

- Sky Jump and/or Sky Walk experience from start to end (getting into gear – landing safely on the ground/360° walk)

- The popularity of these two ‘must do’ activitie

References

University of Twente. (2014) Contextual Design Theory. Retrieved August 25th, 2014 from http://www.utwente.nl/cw/theorieenoverzicht/Theory%20clusters/Communication%20and%20Information%20Technology/contextual_design/

Wikipedia. (2014) Sky Tower (Auckland). Retrieved August 25th, 2014 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sky_Tower_(Auckland)

Wikipedia. (2014) SkyCity Auckland. Retrieved August 25th, 2014 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skycity_Auckland