Abstract:
There has been a popular trend with the concept of globalization and its contributions towards supporting the engagement of different cultural popularities and their customs are appreciated. New Zealand has been exposed to diverse cultural ethnicities since 1975, and during the 1980’s there has been a significant increase in migration to New Zealand, where the majority of the immigrants were from Asian countries. The frequent and consistent migration activities throughout the land have provided New Zealand with the ability to adapt to diverse cultures and helped the country to develop a strong sense of ‘Multicultural Society’. “It’s interesting to note that there are more ethnicities in New Zealand than there are countries in the world. What that tells us is that New Zealand is a diverse place and getting more so all the time,” General Manager 2013 Census Sarah Minson The thesis focuses on exploring and challenging the idea of ‘Multicultural Experience’ through a design based research process that explores concepts of aggregated cultural meanings, manifestation, and cultural expression through Architecture as a mediator. The exploration of the architectural medium will focus on a formulated spatial expression that unravels different cultural spatial experiences within a contemporary form of an architecturally designed environment. The contemporary expression of cultural spatiality will juxtapose two different cultural experiences derived from South Korean and New Zealand Maori as the core narrative of this thesis project in order to propose an opportunity and a possibility of the ‘Cultural Coexistence within the borders of contemporary architecture.’ The proposal will be located on a land in between Northcote and Takapuna, where it has major South Korean community and ethnic influences as well as indigenous landscape value. The overall approach of the thesis will look into demonstrations of possibilities in regards to how different cultural entities can be interacted and engaged through architectural medium within the selected site.