Week 12

Exhibition day
To remedy concerns from last weeks presentation, we created small boards that showed how it works. We also included images of the colour change.

Context

The Cable Car is down the end of Cable Car Lane, a narrow, dark and difficult to find space. We saw an opportunity to give it personality and a sense of place within the hustle and bustle of Lambton Quay, and connect it to other Wellington attractions. From our site analysis we found that the lane was not easily visible from the street and tourists would regularly have to ask for directions to the lane from surrounding businesses.

Our target audience is cruise ship passengers and other visitors wanting to experience the Cable Car. The average age of cruise ship passengers arriving in Wellington is 65 years old, with 3/4 of the cruise ship passengers aged between 50-79 years old.

Process

In our research, we discovered that there has been a recent rebrand of the cable car. The recent rebrand incorporates the old branding but with new-age neaunces. We decided to use the same approach with this project, as to still incorporate the history of the cable car, but bring it into the modern world. In 2014 LED lights were installed into the cable car tunnel, turning it into a more modern experience. We decided to incorporate light into our design, since the lack of light in the lane was one of the main things preventing it from being found. We also wanted to extend the cable car journey to the surrounding attractions, such as Zealandia, Botanic Gardens, Cable Car Museum & Kelburn lookout.

Outcome

We propose a lightbox in the ground of Cable Car Lane that will illuminate the lane and make it more visible from the main street. Mimicking the brick work, the lightbox creeps out into the main street which will entice people in.

We have incorporated the font used in the current Cable Car branding for the lightbox text; “Cable Car Lane”. We have also added native wildlife and plants found in Zealandia such as Tuis, Keas, Wetas, Pohutukawa and Kowhai.

The light box can change colour for different events such as ANZAC day, breast cancer awareness, Hurricanes games etc. establishing a connection between the cable car and the rest of the city.

We propose the lightbox be protected by a layer of plexiglass that is flush with the existing brick work. The plexiglass provides a level of protection for the lightbox, meaning that the glass can be changed when it gets worn out, instead of having the change the entire lightbox. The plexiglass is also safe to walk on.