We are very proud to announce that City Rail Link (CRL) is a finalist in the highly contested World Architecture Festival. Selected from over 1000 projects from 70 countries around the world, we are proud to be one of the finalists in the Future Projects - Infrastructure category.

The design has been developed in partnership with Grimshaw and mana whenua – Ngai Tai kiTamaki, Ngati Maru, Ngati Paoa, Ngati Tamaoho, Ngati Te Ata, Ngati WhatuaOrakei, Te Akitai Waiohua, Te Kawerau A Maki – and designTRIBE, Alt Group, Aurecon, Arup, Mott MacDonald, in consortium.

CRL stations will transform Auckland and reflect our unique identity as the largest Māori city in the world. The architecture and integrated artwork weave a distinctive story of place set within the natural world, reflecting a Te Ao Māori worldview that people and the land are one.

CRL is the largest infrastructure project New Zealand has ever undertaken, with two 3.45km-long, twin underground rail tunnels connecting three new stations Aotea, Karangahape, and Mt Eden – to a reconfigured downtown Britomart Transport Centre. The stations establish significant public transport gateways into destination urban precincts and will also connect Auckland’s suburban rail corridors for the first time in history.

The CRL station design concept draws on the Māori creation story that tells of the emergence of the natural world, from Te Kore (the nothingness) to Te Pō (the darkness) to Te Ao Marama (the light).

Read more about the shortlisted projects here. Judging will take place in Amsterdam 4-6 December.