Abstract:
The city of Tāmaki Makaurau/Auckland has had a highly contested and conflicted
history, largely due to its desirability as a settlement with abundant natural resources
and ideal location. The common threads of contest and conflict, particularly between
Māori and European populations have been deposited on sites throughout the city. This
thesis aims to analyse and respond to these histories at three different sites within the
city. The process of analysis and response has explored the following question:
How can creative methods discover and extract contested histories, and how can these
histories be revealed and enhanced by architecture?
The three sites explored within this thesis are representative of Auckland’s
geographical, cultural, and political history: Meola Reef, Ihumātao, and Bastion Point.
Meola Reef is a physical stratification, where different layers of the landscape each
represent a moment on the site.
Ihumātao represents a timeline of how the use of land has been abused over time but
also how modern protests and resistance are fighting against this change.
Bastion Point brings the political layer to the forefront, highlighting how the Māori
people were fragmented and marginalised by colonial powers.
Creative emphasis is placed on the processes used to reveal and re-interpret the
layering of histories in sites of conflict. Iterations of collages, physical modelling, and
on-site explorations are undertaken on all three sites. However, as each site is further
understood, a unique methodology is formulated to respond to sites of conflict. The
methodology follows a structure comprising of four phases: research, documentation,
abstraction, and reinterpretation. This methodology allows an open-ended use of
methods, informed by the process applied on site. The methodology draws upon
theories such as design as research, and ethnographic approaches.
The three interventions developed in response to the contested histories challenge
the existing readings of each site. The architecture proposes new ways of use and
occupation on the site that challenge the hegemony present in landscapes of colonial
history.