Feeding Familiarity

Abstract

The primary motivation for this thesis is to appropriately recognise and express the experience of Cross Culture Individuals, and the implications of this process within architecture, food, and memory. As people that have been raised in two or more cultures become increasingly embedded in the cultural landscape of New Zealand, the representation of this cultural condition becomes essential. This thesis will investigate how an understanding of the experiences of a Cross Culture Individual can inform an architectural exploration that interrogates the modern day dining experience. In order to pursue and communicate this area of research, I have undertaken a redesign of the renowned existing Food Alley of Albert Street. Rooted in intimate experience, this thesis aims to produce an architecture reflective of a generational narrative. As considered further in this research, food, architecture, and memory each have the potential to serve as vessels of time. Consequently, these mediums have the ability to portray the collective history, memory, and traditions of a rapidly growing diaspora. Utilising these themes as a foundation, this thesis explores how Cross Culture Individuals traverse the conditions of their identity. By employing methods of design such as collage, literary research, digital drawing, and 3D modelling, this research endeavours to produce design that has the capacity to reveal the experiences of Cross Culture Individuals; in its teachings, invite future developments in the expression of this condition. “If you are too much like myself, what shall I learn of you, or you of me?”2