This Project achieved First in Course Award for ARCHDES701. Taught by Julie Stout
As the heart of South Auckland, Manukau City should reflect the diverse cultural landscapes of the greater area. Instead, urbanisation has slowly engulfed Manukau to take up every shred of its history. A concrete blanket has swallowed any signs of nature, decimating notable landforms such as Ash Hill, Wiri Mountain, and the Puhinui Stream. This loss of landform has resulted in a lost relationship to the land, a lost sense of place, with its’ urban fabric behaving as a barrier. Despite this apparent urban density, the city ironically fails to provide sufficient housing for a growing population. We are faced with a paradox: An unrelenting impervious cityscape that demands deurbanisation, yet simultaneously begs for densification.
This project renegotiates the formal identity of Manukau through a fusion of mixed-use residential and landscape: Creating a hybrid model that simultaneously achieves intensification and urban reprieve. Re-establishing topography in the heart of the city, this project exists as a moment of refuge and a first step in re-empowering Manukau’s identity.
My final Design Project at Uni before Thesis, stuck in lockdown conditions - what a way to conclude 4 years!
