Hinged deflections: Flow and territory in Wellington’s post-industrial waterfront

Abstract

Waterfronts, rich environments of overlapping and intersecting infrastructure, territory, experience and activity, were historically solely working environments. Today waterfronts are coveted public spaces, yet their design often results in the site’s complexity and heterogeneous spatiality being neglected or even eliminated.

In Wellington, a large section of waterfront directly adjacent to the port and city centre is under increasing scrutiny as council, developers and the public engage in a battle to extend the reach of the famous, recreational and public space waterfront experience whilst installing office buildings and an attached landscape design. A recent increase in cruise ship visitors has also drawn attention to the port periphery and the way it concentrates and deflects flows.

This section of waterfront is comprised of an obsolete finger wharf topography and currently exists as a ‘hinge’ between public and port.

This thesis explores what can be enabled through a series of strategic interventions within the existing infrastructural and public space networks. It seeks to determine what kinds of landscape architecture practice are best suited to manipulate the spatial intricacies of this particular waterfront environment by drawing attention to the ‘gaps’ in the system that generate precious moments of idiosyncrasy.

This thesis’ research suggests that designing at the interfaces between infrastructure and public life is an effective practice for strategically engaging with the ambiguous gaps and furthering their potential as territorial slivers of public life that accept a diversity of abilities, actions and imaginations.