Queens Wharf Exhibition

This exhibition was based on a research project carried out by students and staff of Victoria University of Wellington (VUW) in collaboration with the National Library of New Zealand and the VUW Summer Research Scheme. The research topic, Visualising Wellington, sought to investigate how National Library of New Zealand collections of two dimensional images, maps and manuscripts could be collated, reconfigured and presented using advanced three-dimensional visualisation technologies such as Augmented Reality (AR). The researchers focused their exploration on Wellington’s Queens Wharf and the waterfront as a site of controversy, rapid development, local attachment and national significance. 

Fortyfive Designs’s role was to integrate this research into the National Library’s cartography exhibition ‘Unfolding the Map’, creating a sub-exhibition. Building on the research conducted by VUW, existing plinths were skinned with historical information and imagery, expanding on the AR experience of Queens Wharf. A graphic stylisation of the Queens Wharf’s beautiful gate and fence was used to ring the plinths and establish an exhibition title and brand. 

Exhibition photography by Mark Beatty, National Library of New Zealand