D2: Invisible Cities – Growing Safer: Residential & Communal (Semester Two 2018)
The Invisible Cities project looks at ‘secretive’, ‘illegal’ responses to the Auckland Housing Crisis, and how soft, small-scale interventions can be made within the CBD to form communal spaces with the possibility of expanding in the future. Growing Safer illegally responds to the Auckland Housing Crisis by building vertically in the cracks and gaps of our fragmented city. A small ‘crack’ appears above an old building facing Myers Park, becoming the location for which this illegal housing is situated. By imitating the facades and heights of surrounding buildings, the illegal residence is able to submerge itself within its surroundings, unbeknownst to those who pass by. The small-scale communal intervention of 2018 positions a series of ‘Garden Walls’ around Myers Park; close to home for the illegal resident. These Garden Walls are hydroponic vegetable crops, free to the public, that grow new produce in response to changing environmental conditions. As this project gains traction over time, it is transformed into a self-sustainable eatery, silently built into the slope of Myers Park; once again presenting this integration of dwelling and landscape.
3D Collage: We were tasked with expressing our designs in 3D collages rather than renders. The collage includes the site of the 'Illegal' Housing and the 2033 self-sustainable eatery, along with various imagery derived from the immediate environment.
Site Sketches (From Left to Right): Location of 'illegal' housing // Path down to Myers Park // Bridge Underpass; Connection between Myers Park and the 'illegal' housing.
Early Site Map: Measuring Topography & Shadowing of Site
2018 Communal Proposal: Garden Wall
'Illegal' Housing Elevation
'Illegal Housing' Plan: >30m² Dwelling for Two People.