Re-Cycling City Transit: Re-examining Architecture’s Role in Today’s Autodependent Society

Abstract

Auckland City’s rapid growth has spawned expanses of motorways. Its urban sprawl, coupled with the ideal of the single-family home, has nurtured a dependence on the automobile – once seen as a symbol for infinite mobility. However, the foreseeable depletion of fossil fuels and densification of our cities have called this mode of transportation into question. In a society where notions of ‘eco’ and ‘sustainable’ have become mainstream, there is an opportunity for us, as architects, to develop a system capable of altering the lifestyles and attitudes of commuters. This thesis looks for an alternative solution to Auckland’s underfunded public transport and auto-dependency. It examines how architecture can initiate and promote the use of sustainable forms of transit, using identifiable motifs and familiarity in order to connect commuters with their public transport system. It assumes that to bring about significant change we must first provide a viable alternative to the comforts of private transport. For Auckland’s current modes of transport are poorly integrated and lack significant funding. There is a dire need for a solution to provide for its rapidly growing population. And in order for this city to remain liveable, Aucklanders must develop a civic identity as intimately linked to their public transport system as they are to their automobiles. This thesis looks at how architecture can be a means of improving the existing and future urban modal transport systems of Auckland City. The architecture proposed is a low-cost, modular, timber construction system that will provide an identity for transport-related infrastructure. It is conceived as a low-cost kit-set architecture; CNC milled, easily transported and assembled, with only minimal instruction required. The flexibility of this system will be tested through designs for four typical sites, with the design for Onehunga Primary School further developed as a 1:1 case study. This will enable all matters involved with full implementation – including client meetings, funding, project management and construction – to be faced. The Onehunga Primary School project makes up the majority of this thesis and is a real-life example of how this system could be implemented for the wider Auckland region.