Abstract:
The nature of the retail industry is constantly evolving that it requires architecture that can keep up with the brand, products, technology and consumers. Hence, raised the question whether heritage buildings that are often weighted down with its preset of history and style is suitable for retail conversions? This thesis therefore aims to investigate an appropriate way to deal with the reuse of heritage spaces for retail purposes and has chosen the Victoria Park Market as the site for this research. The Victoria Park Market is an ideal site as it is a perfect example of a conversion that has become obsolete over time based on the current exhausted state of the shops and dwindling number of visitors. The design in this thesis is developed through investigating the functional and architectural requirements for new forms of retail while simultaneously identifying the historical and existing architectural qualities of the site and developing a design that best balance these criteria. The proposed design will look into re-packaging the Victoria Park Market in terms of re-organizing old programs, introducing new ones and adding new architectural elements that will inject life and increase the vitality of the area. This intervention is specifically relevant to the site and can be appropriate model for other heritage building re-developments in the Auckland context.