Continuum: Reimagining the Future of an Arguably Broken Oceania

Abstract

It has been generally accepted in architectural history that the Pacific architecture has its origins in the architecture of Southeast Asia. However, following the infiltration of Western imperialism, these cultural links between the two regions have diminished. This thesis aims to reconstruct the Pacific’s consanguinity with the tropical region of Southeast Asia by both tracing the ‘two episodes’ of Oceanic prehistoric voyaging that carried the culture and technology into the Pacific and proposing; that in the 21st century a third era of voyaging is required. In so doing this thesis will propose the concept of a ‘bigger Oceania’. The investigation into the continuity and relevance of the bigger Oceania will be divided into three parts. The first part is to research and comprehend the fundamental historical theories from different regions of Oceania. The second part will start to materialise the connectivity within Oceania through an examination of etymology, architecture traditions, boat imagery and Oceanic voyaging traditions. It also becomes an important discussion that will frame the regional identity of Oceania. The third part will seek the relevance of Oceanic indigenous collaboration in the present and future milieu. It will hypothetically push the idea of sustainability, resilience, and empathy in the built environment- symbolises the concept of the ‘third episode of Oceanic voyage’. The third episode of the voyage is somewhat metaphoric. Throughout this thesis, the term ‘voyage’ or voyaging refers to a process of transformation, hybridisation and collaboration of Oceanics’ material and technical culture. For demonstrating this evolutionary process, this thesis will speculatively reimagine Indonesia’s capital city’s relocation plan. The narrative of this speculative project will display the visionary thinking of Oceanic philosophy and sophisticated engineering of indigenous Oceanic tectonic.