Integrated Territories

Abstract

Watts Peninsula is a nationally unique cultural heritage site situated on the northern end of Miramar Peninsula, Wellington. The abundance of recreational links, natural values and military history that comprise the area make this landscape one of significance. There are two sites considered in this research inquiry; the site of the ammunition magazines above Shelly Bay, and the former Women’s Reformatory Prison on Point Halswell. Having largely been in New Zealand Defence Force hands for over 125 years, the controversial debate of changing the land tenure of the abandoned site, creates significant opportunity to investigate how it might be developed for residential purposes. The challenge is to do this without impacting severely on the recreational open space and natural amenity the site currently offers.

The design ambitions of this thesis deal with two coexisting enquiries:

1) How to engage architecture with the heritage values/ identity of a site.

2) How to integrate architecture between built and natural landscapes.

Blending into their surroundings with an indestructible, monumental status, the current state of military infrastructure within Watts Peninsula has a noteworthy presence, standing as evidence of New Zealand’s military history. As a consequence, the design intervention will adopt an integrated approach to this prevailing identity. Here the natural landscape itself and its embodied heritage features will be treated as an incentive for design and the comprehensive study between the man-made environment and the natural.

The research investigates literature embracing identity and integration to provide inspiration for design responses. A critical look at case studies including BB House by BAK Architects, Heller Street Project by Six Degrees Architects and The Sea Ranch, California will be used in conjunction with ideas raised from the literature to generate a context from which experimentation can be based on. A close study on layout, planning and architecture’s relationship to the natural environment will be explored and critically reflected on throughout.

The research concludes that by considering landscape in the broad sense as well as the histories of how the site has been previously developed, housing can be better integrated into its prevailing context and simultaneously play an important role in engaging with imperatives and former histories of a site.