Re-thinking the Kiwi dream

Abstract

There is a huge demand for new housing in New Zealand and a push to stop urban sprawl through intensification of existing areas. Thus the modernist dream of dense and efficient community living has become something we need, but it is not attractive to most New Zealanders. By and large, the Kiwi dream is based on nuclear families, funded by small businesses, in individual houses with private lawns. The medium density housing we are designing does not address this abundance and individuality which are a part of our cultural housing wants and expectations. This forms the basic thesis problem.

Early on, in this design-led thesis, the threads of abundance and individuality became apparent and were, therefore, established as being key architectural criteria to design more desirable residential intensification for New Zealanders. This, along with the problem, was crystallised and supported by factual, theoretical and precedent research. The foundations of abundance and individuality were established as a part of the New Zealand psyche, as defined by Austin Mitchell. Past and present architectural design mechanisms able to achieve these criteria were consequently realised as being; shared spaces for abundance and participation for individuality.

The intention of the thesis, therefore, is to demonstrate opportunities for a housing model where the modernist dream of efficient community living is collided with the Kiwi dream of abundance and individuality in order for improvements in the design and desirability of medium density housing to be made. These improvements aim to enhance the quality of life for residents, increase public acceptability of more intensive housing, and contribute to the building of more sustainable, abundant, shared living that addresses a need to intensify suburban built environments in an attractive way.

The body of the thesis is presented in two parts, a written component that gives the design proposal intellectual and cultural context and a design component that presents the design proposal as the ultimate output of the design-research process.