Category: 2010s

Westie Pad #flatnames

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The Westie Pad was one of the first sponsored flats in Dunedin. It is rented by Westpac Bank and sublet to the group of students who win a set of challenges for the right to live rent free for a year. Despite competition being a bit thin on the ground sometimes, there have been winners.

Dunedin doesn’t have a “Westie” culture as such. However with over 80% of students coming to Dunedin to study, this flat may appeal particularly to those from further north; or those who were devotees of the TVNZ show, “Outrageous Fortune” based in West Auckland which was popular earlier in the decade.

Here’s an entry video created by contestants from 2013.

References:
Westie Pad construction photos from the Student Pac Facebook Page

Barcelona #flatnames

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See the article: Parcels of goodness delivered / Otago Daily Times 21.02.14

 

New named flats in 2010

Away in a Granger (Grange Street), The Changing Rooms (Leith Street), Howe the Fuck (Howe Street).

New named flats in 2010

I was in Dunedin for the weekend and came across a few new flats: Howe the Fuck (Howe St), The Tool Box (Howe St), The Changing Rooms (Leith St), The Art Gallery (Leith St), Puzzle5 (Castle St), and Away in a Granger (Grange St.

The Art Gallery and The Tool Box were the two of most interest. The Art Gallery provides a wonderfully painterly portrait of the University Clock tower with a disjointed harbour view floating above it. The painting covers the door and two lower glass side panels in the door frame.

The Tool Box has a comfortably designed feel about it, like a Macs beer label. The font and ornaments (hammer and wrench) was formed using masking tape and then sprayed over with black paint. I discovered this while standing on the footpath and having a yarn over the fence with one of the lads from the flat who was reclined on his couch, the bench behind him swathed in empties from the nigh before.