World First: Podcasting 192m Up the Sky Tower With the Man Who Designed It

This is definitely one of the stranger places I’ve ever recorded a podcast!

My guest is Gordon Moller - the architect behind Auckland’s Sky Tower - and we recorded this conversation while doing the AJ Hackett SkyRide on the outside of the very building he helped create.

At 86, Gordon is still working, still drawing, still designing and apparently far more relaxed about being suspended 192 metres above Auckland than I am.

We talk about where the original idea for the Sky Tower came from, the criticism it received, the enormous engineering challenge involved in building it, and what it feels like seeing something you designed nearly 30 years ago become part of a city’s identity.

But for me, the most interesting part of this conversation is Gordon himself: his optimism, attitude towards ageing and his instinctive response to new experiences — “Why not?”

ABOUT GORDON MOLLER

Gordon Moller is one of New Zealand’s best-known architects and the architect behind Auckland’s Sky Tower.

His career has included major residential, commercial, cultural and infrastructure projects in New Zealand and overseas, including work in China, Oman, Tonga and Macau.

Among the Auckland projects Gordon discusses in this conversation are the Viaduct Events Centre, The Point apartments and the ASB Waterfront Theatre.

Now 86, Gordon continues to work as an architect, regularly getting up at five or six in the morning to draw and develop new ideas.

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