Points of Pause: Architectural Articulations of Social Place Identity Throughout the Narrative Sequence of Waikato River Hydro-Dams

Abstract

Hydro-dams constructed along the Waikato River establish ‘points of pause’ in the waters’ flow along an otherwise rapid-flowing sequence. These pauses act as physical manifestations of event, memory and meaning in the river’s social hydro-scheme history but this is presently difficult to observe at each individual hydro-scheme and over the collective sequence of dams. This problem is exacerbated by the lack of visual access to several of the dams, due to their varying proximity to main roads, creating ‘gaps’ that prevent their ability to be read as a narrative sequence. Social place identity, as established through narrative sequence, has the potential to restore meaning and social value to each of the Waikato River hydro-dams individually and as a collective. This thesis argues that each dam’s social place identity is greatly enhanced when its social history narrative and its progressive shifts in identity are recognised and understood. Through this recognition, each dam can be read as an important social element along the historically significant sequence. This importance is further enhanced when the dams, which blur the boundary between architecture and machine, are understood collectively as a sequential narrative.

Opportunities exist to create architectural points of pause along the Waikato River which enable the historic significance of each site along the dam sequence to be more clearly understood through narrative expression. Such architectural interventions, when understood as a sequential experience, can programmatically be perceived as a type of ‘social history museum’ for the river with history of the dams as their narrative display. A ‘museum’ intervention at each dam acts as a point where visitors pause to contribute toward the development of social place identity by enhancing their perception of the dam’s social significance while recognising past site identities. This development of social place identity involves the combination of a narrative display with the resolution of identity-related site specific conditions. The proposed pauses are best understood as part of a collective group where each dam’s social history can be understood as sequential chapters in the larger Waikato River hydro-scheme narrative. These objectives present an architectural challenge as to how social place identity can be developed through sequential architectural interventions existing in a symbiotic relationship with the dams. The architectural representation of past site identities specific to hydro-dam construction is considered as part of a solution, promoting the relationship between dam and intervention. This thesis argues that three distinct areas of architectural theory overlap within this investigation: social history’s role in place identity, interpretation of meaning within architectural aesthetics which express identity and architectural sequence recognition within a collection of individual buildings. The intersection of these theories defines design opportunities through which the proposed architecture can enable social place identity to be developed. By combining these three theoretical understandings and applying them to the Waikato’s hydro-stations, insights concerning sequential architecture’s role within social place identity formation are realised. In this way, architecture becomes a tool to not only communicate social narratives but also to develop social place identity along sequences of related structures spread over large distances.