Wellington's best modern buildings?

The best modern buildings in Wellington? Tom Beard's doing a list of own favourites as we speak (here's numbers ten, nine, eight and seven already) ahead of the Architectural Centre's own 'Best' list being issued this weekend (this follows their Ten Worst list issued recently).

Feel free to disagree strongly.

That's his number ten on the left, by the way, which I have to confess was one of my own favourites when I lived in Wellington, and for similar reasons to Tom's:

That's not due to its detailing or materials, and while its dark horizontal ribs and textured concrete have their own appeal to purists, the truth is that if it were half the height or twice the width it would be unremarkable at best.

No, it's the daring proportions that make it so eye-catching and even elegant. Rosemary Howell put it well when she wrote that "its exceptionally slender design was an attempt to minimise its visual intrusiveness, and yet it is precisely this which makes it such a spectacle on the Wellington skyline".

There's a lesson in that for today's high-rises: efforts to limit the visual impact of buildings by restricting their height often result in a worse aesthetic outcome for the city.

Regular readers will already be familiar with my own number one...