This is a tribute to one of my first finds (#14) way back during the "31 Days of Geocaching" August event of 2013. As it was my first "summer" season I naiively thought that I could pick up the rest of the 31 days the following year. Oh, how wrong I was.
In any case, the original Darth Vader's Pencil Box was placed by Tim+Jed and had over 1,100 finds before it disappeared and eventually archived. It was one I enjoyed and if I had favourite points at the time, I certainly would have given it one then.
Overview
Formerly named the BNZ Centre, then the State Insurance Building, the Aon Centre is a commercial office building at 1 Willis Street. When completed in 1984, it was the tallest building in New Zealand. It's notable for its strong, square, black form, in late International Style modernism, and for a trade dispute that delayed construction by a decade. It remained the tallest building in New Zealand until 1986, when it was overtaken by the BNZ Tower in Auckland, and is currently the second tallest in Wellington after the Majestic Centre.
History
The building was designed in the late 1960s and BNZ began purchasing land for it in 1969. Approval was granted to build in 1972 after building codes were rewritten to allow the development "out of common interest." Construction began in 1973 but was delayed in part by a labour demarcation dispute with the boilermakers trade union, who claimed the exclusive right of its members to weld the structural steel. Characteristic of the time, the dispute disrupted construction for six years and discouraged construction of steel buildings across the country. In response, the government deregistered the boilermakers union and the dispute would lead the building to be four times over budget, ultimately costing $93 million.
In 1979 the original building contract was terminated and a new contract to finish the building was signed in 1981. The complex was completed and occupied in late 1984. After BNZ moved its head office to Auckland in 1998, State Insurance purchased the naming rights, renaming it the State Insurance Tower. In turn, Aon purchased the naming rights in 2018, renaming it the Aon Centre, as it currently stands.
Design
The building has black windows on black Brazilian tijuca granite. It has a square footprint and all sides rise vertically without variation. It draws inspiration from Mies Van de Rohe's Tower Buildings (Lakeshore Drive Apartment Buildings in Chicago and Seagram Tower in New York) and Yunken Freeman's BHP Building in Melbourne. The design has been criticised, with architect Sir Ian Athfield calling it "Darth Vader's Pencil Box."
Because of its sheer size and steel construction the building is relatively flexible. Its response to earthquakes is relatively good. Of greater effect is Wellington's wind which is accommodated by the building's ability to flex up to 300 mm in hurricane-force winds. On the upper floors, office workers hang tennis balls on strings from the drop-ceiling so they can see how much the building moves during strong wind days (while I have worked up there for a couple of months, I never saw the balls move).
The seismic and wind-resisting frames of the building consist of a steel "tube" built around the perimeter of the tower connected via floor diaphragms to the stiffer central core.
The cache
If you've found the previous cache then you shouldn't have trouble with this one. Except you still need to be extremely steathly, not least because of the busyness of the area during the day, but you are being overlooked by several buildings, including Wellington's central police station. But there is opportunity to discreetly locate, remove, sign and replace the cache. GPS signal is not fantastic due to the surrounding buildings, but hopefully it will become clear when you arrive.
There is room for trackables, but BYOP. There is no need to damage any vegetation.
The force is reasonably strong with this one.