Typology, Density and Architecture: Housing Complex Design in New Lynn, Auckland

Abstract

A work of architecture stands between the generic and the unique. The average type provides the guidelines for establishing what is generic, while uniqueness leads to art. Type means a group of objects characterised by the same formal structure. It has the potential to endow architecture with cohesion, logic and structure. In a city context, moreover, it bestows the possibility of order on an often complex and unstructured urban fabric. The application of architectural typology could provide an urban housing complex design with an underlying order, space syntax, a system and alternative forms. Auckland City has a long history of low-density living; however, it has changed greatly in recent years. The Auckland Unitary Plan has incorporated medium- to high-density developments in most of the town centres in Auckland. New Lynn, a suburb in western Auckland, will be developed as a metropolitan centre in the next 30 years. This complex, dense urban context requires the design of a compact urban block with a spatial order. Both physical density and density of activities should be achieved. A series of housing complex design ideas, including a city within a city, hybrid programmes, community space and unit variety will be collected and analysed. Housing complex typologies will then be developed from the collection of ideas, and applied as the generic guidelines of the project. The project is an exploration of how typology could assist architectural design in dense, complex, mixed-use urban contexts. A compact housing block will be designed in the town centre of New Lynn, Auckland. It will be a mixed-use development to achieve better living and working conditions. The fundamental concepts of architectural typology, including architectural organism, type, tissue, territory, active history and the evolutionary city will be applied, as well as housing complex design typologies. The project is an overlay of typology and housing complex design, but in response to its specific site condition.