The Equilibrium of Sanctuary and Sightseeing : Enhancing the Visitor Experience of Tiritiri Matangi Island

Abstract

Tiritiri Matangi is a small island located off the coast of the Whangaparāoa peninsula. The island is a miniature slice of the New Zealand condition, an island narrative of exploration, arrival, and on-going adaptation. Once an island desolated by farming it is now a world class sanctuary for New Zealand wildlife and a template for island regeneration. The island has an exceptional yet delicate ecosystem, with many rare species including the takahē, kiwi, and tuatara calling the island home. The island has been named one of the top 25 ecological restoration projects in Australia and New Zealand. With its open sanctuary status and close proximity to Auckland city it has been voted as the number one activity for tourists in the Auckland region annually. Much of the island’s infrastructure before it became a scientific reserve in the 1980’s was built for the purpose of farming and lighthouse keeping, with limited visitor framework implemented. With around 38,000 visitors per year, and aging facilities the island calls for a redesign of the visitor experience. There is resistance to include architecture into a wildlife sanctuary like Tiritiri Matangi. This investigation outlines how architecture will enhance and improve the visitor experience while also remaining considerate of the integration between fauna and architecture. This thesis engages with the island at multiple scales and integrates relevant aspects of a current proposal put forward by the Supporters of Tiritiri Matangi to enhance the visitor experience through built forms. In this scheme there are designs for shelters at two arrival points, a new visitor centre, architectural interventions and a wayfinding plan. The architecture is intentionally designed to facilitate visitor orientation and communicate the island’s rich history and future. It aims to slow down the visitor, encouraging observation of their surroundings, the wildlife and the connection to the landscape, to enrich the experience of the island while maintaining respect for its unique condition. The methodology begins with detailed research and an understanding of the island through cataloguing and site visits at different times of the year which is expressed through cartography. Following this is a critique of the island’s visitor infrastructure, how it performs currently and what functions are lacking. Detailed research allows the programme of the island to be extracted and distilled so designs to be woven into the existing fabric of the island. The process of deeply understanding this landscape, and that its visitors, history, challenges, inhabitants (human and non-human) are highly influential in this design. There is a critical understanding about the functions of the island, appropriate visitor solutions and a detailed investigation into the ecological data as an important part of architecture. Communicated through multiple means of photography, mapping, cataloguing, drawing, this thesis aims to augment the relationship of the visitor and the island sanctuary through architecture.