Abstract:
This thesis explores the nexus between architecture, engaged-learning and community engagement, by looking at how the philosophies of “Slow Food” and “CittaSlow” (Slow Cities) can be integrated with architecture to cultivate communities in urban Auckland. It is proposed that architecture can act as a catalyst to engage learning and to educate people about food as well as sustainability. The research is explored and integrated in the form of a specific design for a community food education centre in Glen Innes (GI), a lowincome, ethnically diverse suburb in East Auckland. The school will host horticultural and culinary excursions from local secondary schools, while becoming a growth catalyst in the area through community and vocational education programmes. The building is conceived as an ‘incubator’ or ‘seed-box’ where the GI community, food-focused businesses and initiatives can be fostered by research and teaching, forming mutually beneficial, supportive and fair relationships with the school. The concepts of “Slow Food” and “Cittaslow” have been extended to the scope of architecture to generate a holistic and coherent design proposition to intensify the pleasures of learning and the cultivation of community. Cultivating, cooking, eating and learning together within the space of the centre facilitate different ways and levels of engagement - with the learning process, the objective of study, the site, the contexts and the community. Knowledge is created at the intersections of these activities. This research also aims to expand the definition of sustainability by moving beyond the advancements of materials and technologies to also include concepts of social and environmental stewardship, using architectural design as a tool.