The Life Aquatic

Abstract

Throughout New Zealand, there is an impossible situation in the paradox between the untouched, ‘100% Pure’ environment we sell as our key attraction and the inherent ‘touch’ when we occupy this environment. The pressures we put on our coast, through sprawling suburban developments, are making virgin landscapes a hard sell. There is a disconnect between the built environment and the systems of the landscape it occupies, which is resulting in drastic effects on plant and bird life, increased coastal erosion, and increased pollution from urban runoff. The way we build on the coast is marring the beauty which draws us there in the first place. Nowhere is this disconnect more evident than the Kapiti Coast.

The coast is an environment of flux; it changes constantly. Dunes are blown by the wind, wetlands migrate with floods and droughts, hydraulic forces push the rivers and estuaries up and down the coast. The Waikanae Estuary is an explicit example of this environment, and one with mounting urban pressures. Paraparaumu is sprawling north as it transforms from hinterland to city. The approach being taken to this building is to flatten dunes, control waterways, and build right to the edge of the reserve, then stop. There is a distinct line between urban and reserve, and little consideration of their contentious relationship as static objects in an environment of flux.

This thesis proposes a building which embraces flux, to act as a focal point for the built environment in the Waikanae Scientific Reserve, pulling the reserve into the fold of urban development. It proposes a future alternative where we do not sell an untouched landscape, but a built environment in tune with the landscape. It will provide basic public amenities for recreation and leisure in the reserve, while also providing facilities for scientific research. The aim is to increase public ownership of the natural environment through increased understanding of the pressures we place on natural systems.

The thesis explores potential options for building in the reserve through an iterative design process, and uncovers a dichotomy of flexibility and form in how we approach building in shifting environments. These two divergent approaches are explored: looking for a form which is capable of mitigating the effect the building has on its environment, through specificity and sensitivity; and looking for a system of construction capable of change with its environment, through universality and modularity. A distinct disconnect between these opposing forces is evident, and the central line of enquiry for the thesis looks to reconcile these conflicting approaches.