The Immobility of Healthcare: A Timely Intervention

Abstract

The Auckland Unitary Plan proposes an imminent change to the urban fabric of Auckland, New Zealand, with densification of the city and growing urban populations adding to the demands of healthcare provision. The test site of this research is the Auckland District Health Board’s (ADHB) Greenlane Clinical Services Centre, a site with a long history of providing hospital in and out-patient services. The ADHB seeks to utilise infrastructure development as an opportunity to open the medical campus to the growing neighbourhood of Greenlane and to invest in patientcentred and proactive models of care that reduce the demand of medical facilities. This research, in conjunction with the University of Auckland School of Architecture and Planning’s ‘Urban Pedagogy Lab’ critiques the current land use at the Greenlane Site, particularly the dominance of on-grade car parking. The pressure on parking contributes to the documented stress levels and impoverished pedestrian experience of staff, patients and their supporters. Commentary from staff points to the urgent need to rectify this situation. However, the problem is also set in a time of rapid change for the building industry. How then to address the urgent need for car parking, while recognising that the ‘parking building’ is a mono-functional typology that, with imminent changes in transport modes, is likely to have a short lifespan? This thesis tackles the problem by proposing a 100-year building. Typically, buildings on this site have maintained their value for short periods, 40 years in the case of the National Women’s Hospital building. Seeking a much longer life cycle, the proposed building begins life in 2020 as a robust concrete and steel parking structure designed to be ready to accommodate the change. Situated on the north-western edge of the site it is responsive to building height changes already happening in this neighbourhood. The building first acts as a filter, retaining traffic to this edge and releasing land for other uses that can better support the ADHB’s aims to enable new models of care as well as community-based investments. By 2035, the parking building begins to respond to transport change and is re-cast as a ‘service shell’ encapsulating pre-fabricated cross-laminated timber (CLT) apartments to accommodate for a growing health workforce in need of affordable housing. As the accommodation provision grows, supplementary timber structures are added, making spaces for an expanded programme of physical, social and spiritual ‘wellness’. By 2080 a logistics hub is added to support the wider urban distribution of medical supplies. And, by 2120, the façade is growing food through hydroponic farms, and generating electricity through photovolataic systems to power this distribution. The proposal is for an evolving, adaptable, robust and multifunctional infrastructure. Through the incremental addition of spatial interventions that accommodate for these changes, I have demonstrated a shift in attitude towards infrastructure development that while specific to the needs of the ADHB, can be adopted in other sectors. The initial ‘scraping away’ of all on-grade parking to address an urgent need is effectively a tool to speculate on buildings offering a longer life cycle.