Abstract:
Public spaces play an instrumental role within urban settings. They
are places where people can engage with the concentration and
diversity of people within cities in a distilled form. Simultaneously,
public spaces offer refuge from the chaos and sensory overload of
urban experiences, thus allowing people to mentally take a break
from the city and their daily lives and connect with their
surroundings or even possibly people around them. However,
several urban conditions threaten the adequacy of free public spaces
within the city. Commercialisation and public-private developments
often result in the creation of spaces that undermine the spirit of
public space through the imposition of physical, psychological, and
financial barriers. As cities develop, density achieved through highrise
buildings become the most efficient use of space. However, the
high-rise typology which dominates the metropolis is often
disconnected from the public realm through physical distance and
privatisation. As urban development forces the spaces for dwelling
and working upwards, similar practices must be applied to public
space to ensure they remain sufficient for a growing population.
Thesis involved data collection through mapping and field
observations to identify things missing from Auckland’s public
spaces resulting in the development of a design that reimagines how
more structures in the city can be made public, fit to host activities
of leisure, and more responsive to the human scale.
This thesis seeks to extend the public realm by dissolving the
barriers high-rise buildings to re-imagine them another form of
public space. Extend public dimension into vertical dimension to
offer new public spatial experiences. This aim is interrogated
through the design proposal of a ten-storey structure which
accommodates dwellings, a range of community spaces, and a
vertical park. This design outcome was reached through iterative
diagramming, digital modelling, physical modelling, and collage.
The research and design conducted throughout this thesis offers an
alternative lens through which public space in urban environments
can be viewed. It challenges the building typologies, the spaces
people occupy, and the activities they engage with in the public
realm to reclaim the city for people. It also presents opportunities
for further research into how high-rise buildings can be retrofitted
and adapted to accommodate public life.