Expansive Thresholds

Abstract

As we walk along an urban street or through a group of shops, our attention is somewhat drawn to the settings around us, whether architectural or social. These edge conditions have the potential to keep us at a distance to our environment or welcome an exchange. It is in these moments that a sense of ownership is affirmed and re-affirmed. A boundary which shifts in character and dimension according to a specific situation can behave as an active between where a straight uniform boundary can present itself as indifferent to the changeable ebb and flows of public life. Thresholds have consequence beyond the momentary act of physical passing or delineation between varying spaces. Th ey also have perceptual, psychological, social and spatial consequence. It is this expansive understanding of threshold conditions that has lead me to the examining of alternative boundary models. Boundary models which break away from clear categorization while still maintaining a spatial logic. 'Expansive thresholds' is what I have come to call the design logic that has lead my explorations. This logic has been appropriated to 6 different situations within an empty site in Mt Albert. The logic takes affect on the micro scale, the spatial scale as well as the macro scale. These 6 situations, which are based on the experience of different characters, become vignettes with spatial significance as well as social. The expansive threshold embraces 5 main ideas. They all act on each other and shape the physical nature of each threshold. First, the idea of maximum interface which shifts in such a way to both reach and reveal; Second, the capacity to provide for those who lack a sense of direction; Third, a concern for the material composition as an active mechanism which exhausts the possibilities of immaterial qualities (four) that negotiate its borders; Five, the nature of the vignette as highly specific at the same time as being absolutely expansive in its field of concerns. Mount Albert is well connected to the city and to the western suburbs. It is also very rich socially, with a wide range of cultures and demographics. The inherent vitality of this place does not translate to the built fabric of the local centre. There is a lack of public space, a space that allows for indirection and moments to engage beyond necessity. It is this fact that has contributed to the very directional nature of this site. The narratives playing out in this local, however rich, remain disengaged narratives. My proposal creates a new connection to the train station, extending on this connectivity and acting like a threshold between Mt Albert and it the greater City. By maximizing the interface along New North Road, I have made this threshold habitable as well as inclusive.