Abstract:
Happy Hour at the Grogzone: Architectures of Alcoholic Aotearoa is an ongoing investigation into how architecture can be utilised as a framework to interrogate Aotearoa’s binge drinking culture. This thesis argues that alcohol as a substance is not the issue instead, it is Kiwi’s attitudes toward it which has contributed to the drinking culture currently on display in New Zealand society. The paradox is that Kiwis are aware of this issue, but choose to hide behind a mask, brushing off binge drinking as a social norm. Our nation’s thick skin and masculine ideology both culminate in the culture seen today. In two parts, this thesis investigates how architectural propositions can act as an incubator for social agency, firstly by using architecture as a medium to reveal the issue, then secondly, as an instigator to shift the culture. A network of five urban disruptions are scattered throughout the Auckland CBD acting as ‘Stations’ unveiling specific programmes associated with our binge drinking culture. These ‘Stations’ then converge at a ‘Terminal’, which incorporate acts taken from the five stations, and cross-pollinates these ideas into a social condenser, initiating a shift in Aotearoa’s drinking culture. Throughout this thesis, the programme will act as a narrative to represent and reinforce key ideas:1 Exposing, facilitating, and shifting the good, the bad and the ugly side of drinking in Aotearoa. The architectural explorations within Happy Hour at the Grogzone argue that New Zealand’s binge drinking culture isn’t entirely dictated by behaviour and the cultural climate; instead, regulation, and consequently the architecture, play a significant role. The Terminal Building addresses this by utilising architecture as a framework to flip the existing legislations around alcohol consumption, and presents a hyper real and exaggerated version of this environment, thus maximising the exposure of this topic, and furthering the discourse on how regulation can impact spaces and social behaviour.