The Abstract Hotel & Residences occupies a prime position on Auckland’s Upper Queen Street, where it offers a mixture of short stay and long term resident accommodation options. Amenities include the Alla Prossima restaurant, San-Ni Spa & Massage, a full gymnasium, and a winter garden and terrace for intimate functions. Drawing on the surrounding area, the building design reflects the functional vitality of Auckland’s CBD.

That design is a study in complicated simplicity. The lower levels feature a dark brick facade that’s warm and inviting, the texture and patterns of the brick standing out against the flat colour of the window frames. Above the brick is a white facade, with the same dark colour as the facade below used to separate the levels and break up the expanse. It serves to make the building more imposing by layering the aesthetic to showcase height. It also establishes strong vertical and horizontal lines which allows the ventilation cowls, with their rectangular profile, to fit in unobtrusively.

Ventuer LFC-series aluminium cowls at the Abstract Hotel are used for the intake and exhaust ports of the mechanical ventilation system. Constructed from a high quality marine grade aluminium, they resist corrosion and retain a ‘new’ appearance. The air flow performance exceeds the needs of mechanical ventilation systems and an integrated insect mesh makes sure no flying or crawling nasties take up residence inside. The cowls are fitted with a compressible EPDM foam rubber backing seal, adding to the impressive weather protection and making the LFC-series ideal for exposed areas.

At the Abstract Hotel, the cowls were finished in either a white or grey powdercoat to blend in with the adjoining section of the hotel facade. They are both ‘there’ and ‘not-there’ – the cowls replicating the angle of the vents above the windows. At the same time, they serve to continue the lines of the architect’s design and the shadows cast from the cowls break up the flatter expanses of the facade.

We know it’s only a select number of people who will admire the facade of the Abstract Hotel and note the ventilations cowls. But that’s ok. They are intended to serve a functional purpose, to visually compliment the design whilst being largely unobserved. That’s a tricky balance to get right and the LFC-series succeeds, even if that success is only really known to ourselves and anyone reading this.