Celebrating New Zealand Rail Infrastructure

Abstract

Within the last two decades, New Zealand has seen substantial population growth far exceeding investment levels in the transportation infrastructure serving the nation. This lack of investment is reflected in the population’s perception and usage of that infrastructure – it is ‘enjoyed’ but not necessarily celebrated, and neither are the journeys it facilitates. This thesis presents a speculative project which focuses on revitalising New Zealand’s railways and explores the following question: How can we celebrate New Zealand rail infrastructure architecturally? The current rail infrastructure in New Zealand is under-utilised, presenting an architectural opportunity. Rather than proposing new train stations viable only in the economic context of cities, this thesis offers an alternative. The architectural celebration of the country’s rail infrastructure proposed here would be located on the train itself, providing benefits for New Zealand as whole, both urban and rural areas. The proposal explores the possibility of designing cultural infrastructure via event apparatus. Cultural infrastructure brought from the city to the provinces would allow for stronger connections to be made via rail. Enlarging rural regions’ cultural sphere – even only temporarily – could benefit them greatly. The mobile typology proposed is not specific to rural regions but can be configured to various sites. Architecturalising rail infrastructure may enable the rail network to adapt by expanding, contracting and reconfiguring, thereby enhancing how we travel through changing geographical and social contexts. It may also facilitate and improve a sense of amalgamation of New Zealand’s history, culture and landscape within the experience of a journey. Aggrandising rail transportation could improve how society uses, experiences and perceives the infrastructural rail system from ticket purchase to final destination.