Abstract:
Many historical, political, and cultural events have influenced specific happenings on the Auckland Waterfront since its inception. The ‘land-side’ fingers of our wharves are in constant consumption our precious Waitemata Harbour. Despite the fact that Auckland draws on the harbour as some of its identity, constant reclamation of our Harbour is argued for in order to accommodate more car parking and the ever increasing cruise ship economy. The harbour is a post-industrial site that contains a complex set of issues in regards to public and private interests. Auckland’s waterfront and littoral zone has always been challenged in terms of use and this thesis aims to investigate the littoral zone, Auckland Harbour Board Building and its history, through drawing and layering in order to improve public space and connections to the water. The Auckland Harbour Board Building fashioned as a ‘civic sculpture’ was built to promote public space and re-establish our ‘affinity with the sea.’2 Described by project architect’s Newman and Dodd in 1981 as a ‘gateway to the city’, this thesis argues that it has the potential to radicalise public space on the waterfront.3 Tilted at a forty five degree angle to Quay Street the building was completed in 1984 by the Architect’s Collaborative Limited (Dodd Paterson Newman Pearce). The Auckland Harbour Board was a sculptural building with a spacious ground floor plaza that stood out on the Auckland’s waterfront until it was questionably in filled in 1999 with another level of offices and retail and food stalls below. This thesis aims to utilize the architectural potential of the Auckland Harbour Board Building in order to provide a method of approach to a reimagining of three waterfront sites. One of the most notable aspects of the building was its relationship with the water. A methodology is developed to explore the ambivalent historical and political condition of our waterfront. Through a series of crafted drawings, the outcome of this thesis is a detailed drawn study of the Auckland Harbour Board Building and its architectural potential. This architectural potential outlined in the orthographic drawing series (see chapter 2.4) can do urban work on different conditions of the harbour edge.