Introducing the Urban Street into the Interior

Abstract

A project that explicitly challenges the thresholds of interiority. Considering how the spaces of urban interiors might be integrated with the spaces of urban exteriors, as a means of enabling these interiors to participate more fundamentally in the greater urban context. Issues of the exterior urban environment in relation to the interior environment are addressed in order to clarify the meaning of Interior Architecture and to activate a discussion that challenges the presumed boundaries of interior architecture. These boundaries refer to things such as inhabitation, the immediate context, and the building envelope. This project is fundamentally about the thresholds of interiority. Through 'Introducing the urban street into the interior' the thresholds of interior architecture are directly addressed in a way which allows for the intervention and re-interpretation of both circulation and inhabitation. It is essentially the city itself that forms an interior for any situation. The many networks of streets, houses, roads, buildings, telecommunications and pedestrian routes all combine to create many interiors within a city. It is the link or transition between these contexts that is addressed in this project. This is achieved by bringing the street directly into Plumbers Building (122/124 Wakefield street, Wellington). This is also fully realised through penetrations through to neighbouring buildings (120 Wakefield Street, currently hotel and 126 Wakefield Street, Retail- Karen Walker).