A Point Of Change

Abstract

Currently decommissioned and derelict onshore oil and gas sites litter the Taranaki countryside with no further role in the built environment. But even after becoming abandoned or decommissioned, these sites still have remaining resources that can be harnessed for geothermal energy production of heat and power to aid the neighbouring communities (Reyes 13). This thesis looks at architecture’s role in providing such decommissioned industrial sites with new uses that can help ensure their prolonged viability, while also strategically assisting surrounding rural communities that are in financial decline by providing free or low cost energy.

Operational onshore oil and gas sites fulfil a vital role in terms of jobs and energy production; but these sites also have taken a visual and environmental toll on the surrounding rural communities. Once these sites are no longer economically viable, if they are simply left to become derelict, the surrounding rural communities often suffer even more. These plants also can be viewed as representing an important period in New Zealand history that risks being lost if these sites are removed once they are no longer operational.

The thesis investigation proposes to incorporate into these abandoned industrial sites new non-industrial programmes that are capable of “learning” from the industrial, framing it strategically along strategic axes to enhance visitors’ awareness of the interconnection of energy and the natural environment. The thesis also argues that incorporating the language of surrounding rural agricultural typologies into the new architectural intervention can help offset the negative implications of a large derelict industrial infrastructure set within a rural landscape. The principal aims of the investigation are to help reinvigorate these derelict sites, while providing continued energy benefits to the surrounding communities and preserving an important chapter of New Zealand heritage.

The site of Kupe Onshore Natural Gas Processing Plant, located south of Manaia in South Taranaki, is explored asthe site for this research investigation. Kupe has symbolically represented Oil and Gas in South Taranaki throughout its existence. While it heads toward industrial ruin, the site still offers untapped environmental resources that can be strategically utilised to help enhance its long-term use. The proposed program is a National Institute for Research and Higher Education in Geothermal Technologies. At present the only facilities for research and higher education in the field of geothermal technologies are located in a few disconnected buildings in Auckland and Dunedin. This design-led research investigation proposes that by fully integrating such facilities into a single national institution directly within one of these sites, the abandoned processing plant can be strategically reutilised in ways that re-frame our relationship with the natural environment, while giving back to the community.

This thesis asks:

How can non-industrial programmes be integrated into abandoned onshore oil and gas facilities to provide untapped environmental energy resources for the surrounding rural communities?

How can architecture be integrated into abandoned onshore oil and gas facilities to help educate New Zealanders about the relationship of geothermal energy production and the natural environment?

How can architecture help ensure the heritage value of abandoned onshore oil and gas facilities is safeguarded for future generations?