Design research @ vuw

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DESIGN RESEARCH @ VICTORIA UNIVERSITY OF WELLINGTON

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M/Arch (Prof) / MIA / MLA | Design Research @ Victoria University of Wellington


The Masters programme at Victoria has students from a range of disciplines: Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Building Science and Interior Architecture. We have developed a design research focus in the thesis year, in which 5th year students pursue their theses through iterative design methods. Effectively, this group of students forms a large research engine, with almost 100 person-years of design work that can be directed in useful and interesting ways. This potential has been focused towards a wide range of topics put forward by staff members. Under these umbrellas, students have developed individual propositions and modes of design enquiry. The student work in this document represents a year long period of self-directed study.

Simon Twose

Director of Postgraduate Programmes

Thesis Studio Co-ordinator: Simon Twose

Supervisors: Daniel Brown

Philippe Campays

Tobias Danielmeier

Sam Kebbell

Christine McCarthy

Chris McDonald

Tane Moleta

Simon Twose

Jan Smitheram

Nat Perkins

Mark Southcombe

Chris Moller

Penny Allan

Peter Connolly

Kerstin Thompson

Jacquie McIntosh

Shenuka De Sylva

Jules Moloney

Peter Wood

Guy Marriage

George Baird


Donna Haraway defines a cyborg as a hybrid creature, composed of organism and machine. The cyborg as a composition challenges the relationship between organic and inorganic material. This thesis questions how the cyborg can be used as a catalyst to reengage the body with architecture. The method utilises an iterative design process which uses three key areas to explore this proposition; precedent, site and programme. Theorists Donna Haraway and Marcos Cruz will be used to guide this field of enquiry into an architectural form. The site of Wellington city, New Zealand, will be explored in terms of rethinking existing industrial areas to generate energy through this development. Finally, the programme acknowledges and accentuates the current condition of the city as a macro entity and prepares it for the future. On a micro scale this structure will be cross-programmed with domestic living to challange the cyborgs relationship in different dimensions. The design method concentrates on a process of fluxuation between the analogue and digital, micro and marco, body and machine. The conclusion of this investigation is a duality between industrial, rigorous, ordered structure with a moveable responsive surface to achieve architecture that engages the human through the cyborgian body.

Ashley Benck | M/Arch (Prof )

Bio-Body Reactor

Supervisor: Simon Twose / Jan Smitheram

Pg | 7Architecture | 2013 Supervisor: Simon Twose / Jan Smitheram


Tara-Lee Carden | M/Arch (Prof )

City of FluxLiberating the Concrete Terrain

Supervisor: Jacquie McIntosh

As occupants of an island nation, New Zealanders’ share a strong affinity towards water. In order to envision a vital urban future for New Zealand’s coastal cities, the temporality of our cities relationship to the sea forces us to confront the transitory quality of our place within it. It can be argued with accelerated sea-level rise globally, architectural solution for low-lying regions need to react to the extensive change in environmental conditions. At present over more than half the world’s population dwell in cities, with many of the most densely populated lying on the ocean periphery. New Zealand with its vast coastline

will be particularly vulnerable to the predicted one and a half, to two meter rise in sea-level during the following Century. The imminent threat of the encroaching ocean within the high value property precinct of Wellington’s central business district provides an opportunity to engage with the dynamic transition between operations on land, towards functions during aquatic fluctuation. The design component of this research will be to modify a section of the existing urban fabric to accommodate for flooding. The objective of this design investigation will be to place the programme as a hinge between sea and land.

Pg | 9Architecture | 2013 Supervisor: Jacquie McIntosh


Toby Coxon | M/Arch (Prof )

Desiring Affect


Following recent ontological shifts within the social sciences, discourse within architectural and geographical circles has sought an understanding of space and the built environment through the lived experience of the body. This thesis explores the notion of affect as a strategic approach to design, to overcome limitations of conventional design processes, and reconsider everyday spaces to engage the body at a visceral level. This thesis attempts to foreground these variables within experimental design processes, in an attempt to privilege the experiencing body. Moving imagery is used to engage with time and sensation in a pre-spatial mode, to overcome usual architectural assumptions

and limitation which privilege spatial containing over time and sensation. The moving image then translates to space through digital processes, and becomes a diagrammatic driver for the multiple imperatives of the design including programme, movement, form, and with a particular focus on the intangible conditions of space. The processual privileging of embodied experience affords the designer a more direct interaction with the affective registers of the body through the medium of space, and translates into an architectural outcome that encompasses a considered and fully designed experience.


Hayden Grindell | M/Arch (Prof )

Data SpaceReframing Occupation and the City


Data centres are the core infrastructure of digital networks, housing sensitive and immaterial information streams. These unoccupied maximum security infrastructures are typically isolated from population centres in response to operational imperatives counter to that of occupied urban conditions. This thesis argues that greater integration of data infrastructure with urban contexts can offset problematic energy inefficiencies and highlight the pervasiveness of digital networks and the infrastructure it relies on. This research investigates how imbedding data infrastructure in the city might act as a catalyst for the design of occupied space in an urban context. First, it explores site specific formal vocabulary and organisational strategies for urban data infrastructures through a series of design tests. It then tests the integration of data infrastructure with urban Wellington by exploring the proximity of data centre operations to the urban programmes of medium density housing and a market. The outcome of this process is a complex building that makes legible the potential formal, spatial, and technological overlaps between this emerging infrastructure and inherently urban programmes. It proposes a transformation of the digital exchange of information into a tangible resource that constructs the occupied environments of the city.


This thesis explores the concept of adaptive landscape architecture as a method for embracing extreme fluctuations in environmental conditions, within water-based communities. The research investigates current practices and vernacular systems to develop more sustainable methods, which respond to the dynamic environment and specific social needs. The concept is tested through the commune of Kompong Phluk, Cambodia. The people and the landscape of Kompong Phluk are governed by extreme periodic inundation, a phenomena common to many communities of the Tonle Sap Lake. Their way of life and architecture has evolved to work with environmental fluctuations. However, current methods in today’s context are proving to be insufficient to community and individual sustenance, and detrimental health and social implications affect the future sustainability of the communities. The research suggests that design systems can provide a framework for empowering sustenance within a community though food cultivation. The use of adaptable structures that enhance current livelihood practices can test how development can strengthen a community.

Jade Yu-Ann Au Morris | MLA

Adaptive Landscape ArchitectureEmbracing Impermanence and Empowering Community Sustenance

Supervisor: Shenuka De Slyva / Jacquie McIntosh


Emily Batchelor | M/Arch (Prof )

Stepped-ness in Medium Density Housing

Supervisor: Kerstin Thompson

Stepped-ness in Medium Density Housing investigates a new form of design, where the site is organised according to different conditions of public, common, shared and private spaces. Stepped-ness is used as a technique for controlling relations at a range of scales and intimacies —from urban to interior— and as a tool for creating continuity of public to private, inside to outside and building to landscape. As a result, circulation and dwelling become integrated as part of a stepped morphology in which higher density living is able to accommodate both a desire for privacy, and a connection with neighbours. Challenging conventions, the architectural hardware of this proposal allows boundaries to be redefined according to the preferred size and configuration of a variety of household types. The identity of ‘home’ is less determined by size, and more by relations – within the household and between dwelling and public realm. Initially concerned with the step as a tool for design, this thesis developed to consider the stepped-mat as a way of both controlling and designing space.


Frano Bazalo | M/Arch (Prof )

Responsive Algorithms

Supervisor: Tane Moleta

This project focuses on optimisation through parametric and algorithmic logic. A re-parameterised Wellington Public Transport system based on real-time route calculations has provided a situation to explore elements of architectural optimisation using parametric tools. The brief was to create an overriding logic capable of defining the architecture to support this re-defined transportation system. Much of the focus was exploring the potential to optimise the process in defining unique and site-specific outcomes while responding to the simple equation of supply and demand. In order to optimise this propagation of architecture, an in-depth exploration into voronoi divisions were undertaken as a way to plan,

organise and divide space similar to the logic in which soap bubbles are packed, organised and altered. Using a physics simulation, cells representing architectural programme can be arranged and optimised based on given parameters and rules. A further study into the dynamics of metaballs was explored to further optimise this space planning logic, re-parameterising cell boundaries based on the initial target sizes. This goal of optimisation will also be continued through to fabrication and construction. This will allow for the propagation and distribution of modular components creating an architecture as dynamic as the transportation system it serves.


Kate Bevin | M/Arch (Prof )

Staying Afloat


As an island nation not only do we dwell by the sea, we rely upon it for survival. It is our traditional source of sustenance, our desired source of recreation, our provider of industry. With so much of New Zealand’s urban development and infrastructure located on the coast, climate change threatens the society of culture and tradition we have worked to establish. Sea level rise and stronger climatic episodes will limit the ability of local people to access the sea safely, yet regardless of the

dangers that a rising sea poses people will continue to dwell on the coast. This resilience needs to be paired with adaptation to ensure our coastal culture endures. The three globally recognised responses of accommodate, protect, and retreat leave a significant hole in adapting to climate change – attack. Attack is to take our existing infrastructure and reconfigure it, to reinforce the strength of our critical facilities, to redevelop its use and design to be accessible and resilient.


Margot Bowen | M/Arch (Prof )

In Consideration of Depth

Supervisor: Chris McDonald

It is widely recognised that New Zealand’s growing cities need to increase the amount of medium density living options in and around urban centres. Without a well-established norm of apartment living, this type is under investigated. This has lent only damage to the desirability of the housing option. The crux of this issue is the relationship between the public and private realms. This thesis considers an unknown and relatively new theory called ‘depth configuration’, which is based on the analysis of existing buildings. The theory’s merit is that it amalgamates established writings on; territory, permeability and proximity, and presents the combination as what defines the relationship of the public and private realms. This design tests the application of a particular public/private relationship within the context of Wellington. The proposed apartment building sets itself on a generic site on Adelaide road. Iterations within the building test a range of depth configurations. Various semi-public and semi-private territories condition areas of privacy and shared amenity.


Hamish Byrne | M/Arch (Prof )

Architecture of LimitsClassical Planning and Medium Density

Supervisor: Mark Southcombe

The focus of this research is the planning of medium-density housing. Specifically, how classical principles of residential design can shape contemporary housing and persuade New Zealanders of the merits of good design and density. A secondary research theme about new urbanism will address the wider context of housing, local character, and establish a framework for the sensitive redevelopment of Brooklyn village. The research will emphasise the role of classical planning in constructing a public to private gradient and the advantages spatial differentiation has over open plan living. While an open plan is not without benefits, it has become a default response and is often thoughtlessly applied. Well-designed classical floor plans can offer greater flexibility to use and users. Taking the best of both arrangements can then provide what people have come to expect and what they have forgotten.This research is driven by the idea an apartment can function like a great home. It combines my personal interest in historic houses with current concerns about density and the value of design.


This thesis examines how parametric modelling can be used in the design process to aid in the development of a kinetic architectural skin. A parametric scripting interface has been used to describe morphological change in architectural models. This has enabled responsive kinetic form to be subjected to a process of iterative development. At the conceptual stage, weather data has been used to generate responsive form, enabling exploration into a range of potential designs. At the developmental stage, static and dynamic iterative modelling has been used to inform the development of a final skin system. The process of iterative modelling has introduced a high level of feedback to the design process, allowing for a thoroughly developed architectural system that performs well against established design criteria. This thesis proposes that parametric modelling is a credible tool for the development of dynamic architectural systems.

Allan Clayton | M/Arch (Prof )

Parametric Kinetics

Supervisor: Tane Moleta / Jules Moloney


Chloe Coles | M/Arch (Prof )

The Humane Co-House


Buying a home is difficult throughout New Zealand and Wellington is no exception. Inner-city apartment blocks lack individuality, space for growing families and a sense of community and autonomy. While research shows houses in outer suburbs are perceived to provide these, they come at a high price and there are low amounts of available stock. There is potential for city-fringe suburbs adjacent to the inner city to accommodate more dwellings, creating available housing stock that is appealing to buyers who would otherwise be looking at expensive suburban houses.The Humane Co-house design-led research project presents a new typology for shared medium-density housing sited in a city-fringe Wellington suburb. The research argues communal living can be utilised to achieve smaller dwellings, a high medium-density grain, a humane living environment and a new form of social interaction that home buyers will find desirable. This research begins with the current attitudes and preferences within New Zealand housing, and suggests that the appeal of the traditional detached suburban house is intertwined with a desired balance of private space to common space. This research designs and develops a new typology to achieve a balance between smaller dwellings and high medium-density.


This design research thesis primarily uses drawing to understand, interpret and analyse the decaying structures at Whalers Bay on Deception Island in Antarctica. The drawing method and chosen site is used to aid and facilitate an understanding of relevant issues of climate change. The historic whaling site on Deception Island has had a long history of human habitation and natural disaster, located on a restless island volcano within the harsh Antarctic climate. The series of drawings produced develop through scale. Navigating between the genres of art and science, they highlight relationships between context, the site itself and the structures on its shores; referencing their connections to humanity, politics and the environment. The fundamental properties within the drawings are the grid, movement, change, composition, imperfection, framing, time and perspective. The proposed temporary installation, developed through a drawn analysis of the site, injects itself within the decaying buildings, substantially damaged by the natural effects of time, the extreme climatic conditions and volcanic eruptions. Acting as a barometer the design is a temporal project, a facilitation of the measurement of the changing environment, particularly relating to the decay of interiors, spaces we inhabit the majority of our lifetime.

Alexandra Davies | MIA

Deception Island: A Drawing Project

Supervisor: Christine McCarthy


This thesis proposes that architecture act as a soundscape mediator to activate a heightened level of engagement between landscape and people.Western society historically regarded sight as a privileged sense and artistic devices introduced in the Renaissance have shaped the way we relate to landscape through architecture. Architecture is commonly treated as a frame through which landscape is viewed, accustoming us to being spectators of rather than participants with our surroundings.To shift away from this static relationship this research prioritises acoustic considerations over visual ones, appealing to the dynamic sense of hearing to invite participation between architecture, landscape and people. R. Murray Schafer’s Soundscape Philosophy informs a design method where the architecture composes an acoustic environment in the landscape. The proposition was interrogated through a series of design experiments for a ‘Glamorous Camping’ structure sited in the Ngā Pōtiki Reserve on the Southern Wairarapa Coast. The use of Soundscape Philosophy in architectural design allows architecture to provide an immersive and holistic experience of landscape. The architecture is dispersed formally and acoustically through the landscape, blurring the distinctions between them physically and acoustically. Appealing to the auditory sense allows architecture to become a framework within which landscape can be experienced.

Polly Dawes | M/Arch (Prof )

Architecture of the Sonorous

Supervisor: Nat Perkins / Simon Twose


Throughout history churches have been concerned with the sharing of the gospel to those who do not know of the salvation received through Jesus Christ, through history many churches have innovated liturgical operation using relevant language to reach as many souls as possible. In this thesis the proposed design of a Pentecostal church departs from traditional church architectural forms to externalise the building as to reflect the church’s theological standpoint and focus: to be secular attentive. Traditional Christian churches are designed to fully enclose the gathering of worshipers. This idea is challenged through this thesis by the theological standpoint of the Arise Church, the principal client of the design work of this thesis. Form, envelope, materiality and programme will resolve an architecture specific to Arise Church. This discussion is between the secular and sacred, focused on the design of threshold, the concept of porosity which enables a dialogue from the church to the secular and the secular to the church.

Gerard Dombroski | M/Arch (Prof )

ThresholdA Few Words to Church Builders

Supervisor: Phillippe Campays


Matthew Fetridge| M/Arch (Prof )

Parametric AtmosphereAn Investigation of Light, Material and Mass as the Generator for Design Atmosphere


Parametric design today is largely embedded within a traditional trajectory. Current use largely sees the role of computers in the design studio operate at a low level, fulfilling no more sophisticated tasks than which was formerly achieved by hand. What motivation there is for parametric design tools seems to be largely inspired by a visual aesthetic. Manipulating relationships between architectural elements to design atmosphere is a long established physical process. By utilising the computer to accurately simulate spatial qualities, I propose the genesis of something more novel. The quantification of atmosphere within a digital toolset allows the designer to accurately control light, material and mass through complex networks of parametric relationships. Simulating and researching architectural atmosphere from architects Peter Zumthor and Tadao Ando allows this thesis to demonstrate a methodology for accurately simulating architectural atmosphere through the generation of geometry in Grasshopper and simulation of real site specific lighting data in 3ds Max. This thesis presents a methodology for how digital parametric design techniques enable greater flexibility and control in designing atmospheric architecture.


Wine has the remarkable ability to represent its origins through its taste and smell. If architecture is to facilitate the creation of wine then it must be a place that induces a similar sense of the ephemeral qualities expressing site and the artistic nature of the winemaking craft, creating an intoxicating impression. This research looks into the artistic concepts of impressionist paintings to articulate an architectural experience based on concepts of dissipating of light and the blurring of boundaries. Impressionist painting offers an immersive quality that creates an experience for the viewer that captivates them through the use of their imagination to form the image of the natural scene depicted in a ephemeral rushed brush strokes creating an impression of light and boundaries. The strategies created led to an architectural design that tested the balance of soft and hard to create spaces that allowed the ephemeral qualities of site. This design curates an experience of colour, light and wind, accompanying the process of winemaking, all paramount in the essence of the craft.

Amber Gray | M/Arch (Prof )

Intoxicating Impressions

Supervisor: Phillippe Campays


Interior architecture cannot be bound by the confines of a building, it is not the catalyst of architectural intervention, in fact we can have interior experiences within the landscape. As a discipline Interior architecture tends to be quite insular, struggling to connect to the exterior context of a design, whereas landscape architecture tends to be so involved with the context at the large scale, that the finer details and experiences of space can be lost. Generally, engineered systems tend to be internalized and designed without regard for the social. There is an interesting connection between landscape and interior architecture, with landscapes being able to generate their own sense of interiority. I have defined “existential intimacy” to describe the haptic bodily experience of a space through which one gains an understanding of something bigger than themselves (be it a system, process, or increased awareness and connected with the direct surroundings). This research explores what happens when notions of “existential intimacy” are applied within a landscape. Water is used as an important device for establishing existential intimacy, enhancing the ability to engage with larger systems.

Michelle Hall | MIA

Field of IntimacyExplorations of Interiority within the Landscape

Supervisor: Penny Allan / Peter Connolly


Michael Hatch | M/Arch (Prof )

Resilience in the Face of Sea Level RiseAn Architectural Response to the Rising Sea Levels in Wellington


Climate change is widely regarded as the leading global issue of the 21st century. There is now a general international agreement that the global climate is changing at an accelerated rate and that human-driven emissions of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere is the main factor driving this trend. Arguably the most devastating impact of climate change on the human civilisation will be a rapidly increasing rise in global sea levels. In the case of New Zealand’s capital city, Wellington, over ten percent of the city’s residents are at risk of displacement by the end of this century. This thesis aims to find a solution to resident displacement in the coastal city, addressing the

question, how can a resilient residential dwelling be designed for the coastal city, in response to the encroaching pressures of climate change driven sea level rise? This research question and its subsequent design aims have been achieved through a highly iterative design process resulting in the development of a connected network of amphibious dwelling solutions which provide the residents of the selected focus community of Kilbirnie, a coastal suburb in Wellington city, with the capacity to accommodate, adapt and thrive in the face of sea inundation.


Ellen Hickman | M/Arch (Prof )

The Interface

Supervisor: Chris Moller

Effective spatial conditions and formal interventions that enhance the relationship between architecture and the natural environment enable users’ ideas to prosper. This thesis asks how architecture can be a platform for learning and innovation. Hutt City Council strives to bring change within Seaview Gracefield, as there is a need to strengthen business vitality and to enhance the environment. The method of this investigation employs a design-led research enquiry, utilising an iterative design process, where the design of an innovation centre is tested through drawings and physical and digital models, intertwined with broader architectural theory and design. This thesis is explored in

two threads. First, workplace and learning environment theory and second the interface between architecture and nature where the relationship between the two is integral for work-learn environments, and enhancing the ambient qualities of site. The concluding design is a speculative architectural condition that facilitates an interactive work - learn environment and a place of social engagement and exchange. It is an enabling device that encourages learning and interaction through specific spatial conditions and reveals how the interface between architecture and the natural environment can support and accelerate innovation.


Thane Houston-Stevens | M/Arch (Prof )

Reconstructed AffectsDesigning for the Affective Body


In contemporary writing the emergence of the affective body is seen as a way to challenge the limits of understanding the body as a text. Through design, this thesis extends the contemporary discourse of an affective body to consider affect as a material and spatial condition that we can design for. Specifically, this thesis focuses on how design can be created from an exploration of the spatial dimension of the affective body. This thesis extends from the historical lineage of Spinoza, Nietzsche and Deleuze to define a theoretical position that supports an intensified engagement of the affective body. An exploration of the dynamic forces inherent

with the affective body directs this thesis towards the theoretical discourse of cinemetrics and moving-imagery. A design method is established by recording human and nonhuman affects that are present within a site, applying a method of moving-imagery. This research finds that by challenging a reciprocal relationship between body and architectural space there is scope to further reinforce affective characteristics inherent within architecture and the body. While the emergence of the affective body extends architectural practice and theoretical discourse it is arguable whether such a focus will achieve the paradigm shift associated with the textual body.


Brett Hulley | M/Arch (Prof )

The Absurdist Liberation of Architecture

Supervisor: Peter Wood

Just as individuals seek meaning in their existence, they seek meaning in their architecture; both of which can undeniably be considered acts of absurdity. This is true according to the limitations of human perception and interpretation which is articulated by existential theory; specifically, Absurdism. An in-depth explanation of Absurdism, which is provided in the expanded version of this thesis, is necessary to fully concur with this statement but what needs to beunderstood for now is that, according to the Absurdist theory, no individual will find true meaning in their meaningless universe, or in their architecture. Assuming you too refuse to submit to this bleak outlook, we must ask a question of architecture, and existence also. How can its meaning be validated? The clues to a solution lay in the discussions of Absurdism; and it is Albert Camus’s skilled use of logic and rationale in his Absurdist-cornerstone collection of essays Le Mythe de Sisyphe (The Myth of Sisyphus) that paves the methodological path that this thesis follows in the legitimisation of architectural creativity within the paradox of meaninglessness.


New Zealand has a housing shortage. Many homes are unhealthy and of poor quality. Leaky homes and natural disasters have put pressure on the building industry, destroying housing and diverting resources into maintenance rather than new projects. Land prices have pushed the traditional freestanding house on freehold land beyond the reach of many, especially property close to work and amenities. Sick Building Syndrome, a result of toxic chemicals, unsecured fibrous products, fungi and mould(s) within homes is increasingly being identified as causing health problems for occupants and can no longer

be ignored. By choosing inexpensive natural building materials, which are historically proven and still in use globally, healthy affordable homes can be built. By adopting zero lot design, party walls and tiered levels, medium density housing with useful outdoor space, privacy and good access to sunlight can be realised. Addressing these issues as a whole and by taking full advantage of the versatility of natural building materials by creatively integrating them with suitable modern materials and systems, a new typology will emerge with its own set of unique discernible features.

Steven Jaycock | M/Arch (Prof )

Achieving Healthy, Sustainable, Affordable, Medium Density Eco-Homes.



Jasper Kelly | M/Arch (Prof )

Drawn InThe Intimacy of the Hand Drawn Image and Design for the Robert McDougall Drawing Institute


Drawing by hand is a privileged tradition in architecture. Yet recent technological advances have challenged its representational authority. This research revisits manual representational practices to evaluate the tactile, embodied, and experiential aspects of line drawing and mark-making. This thesis investigates how architectural drawings can be regarded as tangible and embodied methods of representation by emphasising the connection between the hand and the page. Through the design of a Contemporary Drawing School, this research demonstrates how the formative connection between the hand and the page, as well as sense of intimacy between an architect

and their work, can be imbued within an architectural outcome. Traditionally, and in modern practice, architectural drawings are produced as an obligatory part of building production. Using analogue techniques, this thesis offers a way to better connect the architect to their work, both physically and emotionally. Through a theoretical framework, based on case studies and my own design methodologies, the hand drawn image is described as a form of embrace, a physical and emotive method of communication, which is used to inform an evocative architectural outcome.


This research aims to enable the re-establishment of a lost site in central New York City, acknowledging mortality through revitalising a void space into a spiritual sanctuary. The underground repository, located in the hub of an urban population will both embrace the community, nurturing communication between the living and deceased. The lack of space for the living, let alone space to bury the dead in large urban areas is both increasing and concerning. A transformation of this space will be more than an art form, challenging and igniting sensory perceptions through the natural qualities of light and water. Architecture acting as an “artificial body” will communicate reflection on the

human body that has ceased to be the natural expression of the spirit. The architectural “body” can be seen as the symbol of mother, enabling one to interact with the deceased, and embrace the realm of human emotions. The research suggests that relocation and reinterpretation of the traditional burial site to a contemporary designed urban space is feasible. A space strategically located invites and connects people to their past, translating a new approach to a repository, as the lost site accrues a valuable archive transcending an architectural performance into the “underworld”.

Sigourney Lovell | MIA

Memento MoriA Space of Recollection

Supervisor: Philippe Campays


In Wellington we are faced with the difficult task of building on our undulating topography. However, it is questionable whether a bespoke construction method is the most appropriate means for building houses on hillsides. I propose we form a closer relationship to ‘home.’ To understand how to form an architectural response in the context of Wellington, I looked to contemporary Norwegian architecture. This thesis is broken into four parts; background research, design explorations, design discussions and conclusion. In background research, prefabricated systems internationally offered are documented accompanied by the technologies available specifically in New Zealand. The design exploration section

illustrates two designs which explore how a hillside typology can be augmented with a prefabricated system. Each is assessed in relation to response to topography and adaptation of Norwegian ideologies. The design discussion revolves around a hillside development of five residential structures and their interconnectivity. Leading into the discussion is a detailed analysis of the prefabrication system implemented, and the modifications to that system which were tested through design. Here, the construction sequence is mapped. This is followed by an architectural discussion on site, access, planning and materials. The conclusions drawn in the final section tie together all these elements.

Monique Mackenzie | M/Arch (Prof )

Negotiating the Slope:Prefabricated Hillside Dwellings Meet Nordic Influence



Bronwyn Phillipps | M/Arch (Prof )

An Affective Awareness


One of the most captivating qualities of New Zealand wilderness is its intricately linked temporality. Season’s, weather, night and day, are multiple interconnected systems in flux that determine the feel of the environment. We perceive this through levels of experience that build from affects. Architecture is designed to resist this temporality, with lights, shelter, heating and more. This fixity limits the engagement between interior and exterior and removes environmental conditions that potentially have positive impact. This thesis argues that non-static architecture creates a stronger connection between people, architecture and the natural environment. The success of architecture to emphasise this connection is analysed

through the lens of affect as a preconscious reaction, which counters the social and cultural expectations of space. The study of affect provides a framework of understanding to inform the active designing. A fluid semipermanent shelter is designed with a woven structural system responsive to both weather conditions and occupants. Activities occur within these structures maximise the potential for movement and interaction with its constantly changing context. The interplay between uncontrollable flux and controllable movement in the structures provides a challenging context that heightens the inhabitant’s awareness of the relationship between people, architecture and natural environment.


Rachael Picot | M/Arch (Prof )

Acculturating Architectural Sublimity


It has been argued that domestic architecture within New Zealand is increasingly dominated by international styles since the rise of modernism. According to Bill Wilson (the Group’s leader), there is a lack of understanding of foreign design principle within New Zealand modernist architecture, denying any psychological or spiritual connection within the home. This has caused a shift from what was considered a vernacular architecture to a hybrid of adopted building styles, imitated largely for their aesthetic value rather than any theoretical grounding. This thesis aims to help redefine a national vernacular and the experience of domestic space through the implementation of experientiality. The design reconsiders domestic spaces through design-research methodologies derived from two early modernist architectural groups: the Bunriha (co-founded in 1920) with the locality of the Group (established in 1946). These were chosen as both groups provided manifestos for reviving each respective nation’s architecture (Japan and New Zealand) post war. As the Groups’ Japanese equivalent, the Bunriha provides a successful precedent for mediating between new technology, experientiality and a vernacular style. The research led designwill from a series of architectural strategies which will result in a heightened sense of self through the foreign concept of experientialism.


Louise Pieters | M/Arch (Prof )

Across the LineReconsidering Coastal Land Settlement

Supervisor: Sam Kebbell

Settlements like Papamoa, in the Western Bay of Plenty, were once small beach communities made up of baches and holiday campgrounds. Today Papamoa has evolved into a sprawling suburban housing settlement, spreading both down and across the beach. The problems arising from this rapid growth and linear formation do not exist in isolation. These characteristics are emerging nationally and internationally as people move away from the negative attributes associated with cities, in favour of a more balanced ‘work-play’ lifestyle. This thesis reconsiders coastal land settlement and explores alternative forms of development for regions like Papamoa. The first section introduces the reader to the proposed form through an annotated tour. Section two presents three design operations, through which the design process and outcome can be explored and understood. The first of these operations: Rotating, responds to the problematic nature of sprawling linear housing patterns. The second operation: Extending, responds to the problematic nature of the existing housing typology. The third operation: Lifting, outlines the difficulties involved in building on an ephemeral coastal site. Each operation presents the problem, the design response, and the process that generated that response. The final section reflects on the project and process as a whole.


Karen-Lize Pike | MIA

The Other InteriorAn Ode to Cigarettes


Interior architecture is a discipline that deals with the in-between. ‘Inside’ and ‘outside’ are wrongly defined as opposing states. For the inside and outside are not as distinct as we have come to believe. They are not opposites. They are intertwined. You can never be completely outside; to be outside something means to be inside something else. At once outside a building, you are still inside the confines of the city- the cities interior. Alleyways are interstitial sites for experimentation of the threshold between public and private, presence and absence, sacred and secular, legal and illegal. Interstitial spaces are often over-looked and unappreciated. This research endeavours to reveal the inherent interiority and sacral conditions of these cast-aside sites. The city is wilder than we think. The interstitial endures the grotesque scars of the city- these sites are allowed to just exist when everything else is arbitrarily swept clean each day. The aim is not to sterilise, instead this research endeavours to reveal the inherent interiority of these cast-aside sites. These sites are the facilitators of interaction and social intersection. They are meeting places, market places and connection spaces for society’s sub-cultures, where the currency is cigarettes.


Hamish McLachlan | M/Arch (Prof )

Intensifying Christchurch

Supervisor: Kerstin Thompson

This project explores ways of achieving urban intensity in Christchurch. It distinguishes between discussions focused on density, which tend to be around quantity figures rather than quality of built form. The proposal takes a typological approach to define a new street condition. It provides a way to increase a sense of urbanity and maximize the interface between the public and private realm. The project articulates a middle ground between the central CBD and the inner suburbs. It introduces a typology to mediate between the scale and morphology of these two conditions, the verticality and density of the

CBD and the horizontal sprawl of the houses and suburbs. This manifests as a series of thin and continuous four storey loops. What starts as a generic building envelope is differentiated through a number of variables adapted to different idiosyncratic conditions. The resulting diversity of spaces opens up multiple opportunities for a diverse range of uses and types of occupations. Suitable for a city in transition, the project operates as a catalyst for development that redefines the adjacent public realm and delimits a city block to create a semblance of completion for a city in flux.


Jessica Scheurich | MLA

SmartCharge Digital Streetscape

Supervisor: Penny Allan / Peter Connolly

Mobile phone technology is rapidly changing our world, how we interact with one another, and our built environment. This thesis investigates how we can integrate mobile phone technology more urbanistically. There is a tendency for designs of this kind to be a short-term artistic gesture that do not interact with their surrounding environment in either a long term or meaningful way. This thesis argues that the ability of a design to outwardly impact its environment should be considered; rather than sustaining the common belief that design installations only act as a momentary or disposable implementation. It will examine how design can reinvigorate a space and be

absorbed into a city’s everyday routine to become permanent and valuable to the streetscape and the community. This thesis focuses on our dependency on mobile phones by exploring how these devices can overlap with the urban environment through a streetscape intervention. Choosing to test the design of a recharge station across different sites will allow the investigation of the design’s ability to be adapted into different city environments. These stations will be developed with the intention of creating social hotspots that could have a positive outward effect which impacts their urban setting and surroundings.


Thomas Seear-Budd | M/Arch (Prof )

TopophiliaA Cistercian Monastery in Australia’s Land of Fire


Tarrawarra Abbey, occupies a section of Aboriginal land. Australia’s solitary Cistercian monastery was created following European traditions without considering Aboriginal history, their perceptions of the natural world or fire-based land-management strategies. With a changing climate and Aboriginal people no longer using fire to maintain the environment, areas of Victoria’s landscape are now under serious threat as firestorms continue to plague its mountain ash forests. Situated on the edge of Kinglake National Park, the proposed monastery mediates between the ancient Wallaby Creek water canals, fire-charred brick ruins and at-risk forest giants. The stone canal carries water

between the trees and ruins, forming an edge that defines the boundary between the vertical and horizontal landscape, the place of wonder and place of remembrance. The simple and subtle architecture of the proposed monastery, like that of the Aboriginals, forms an intimate relationship with the sensory elements of the landscape. As an architectural scar and symbol of healing, the reinterpreted monastery and its community of monks and Aboriginals will not only contribute to the protection of Kinglake National Park’s injured mountain ash forest, stone water systems and post ‘Black Saturday’ ruins, but also assist in the mending of a torn relationship between two cultures.


Jared Shepherd | M/Arch (Prof )

Interlocking: The Phenomenological ApartmentAn Exploration and Enrichment of the Spatial and Bodily Experience of Urban

Apartments

Supervisor: Chris McDonald

New Zealand faces the need for more housing over the coming decades due to increasing population and a decreasing household size. Can urban inner-city higher density housing be better designed? This becomes the focus of this research in regards to quality of space in small apartments. A critique of existing ‘shoe-box’ apartments is developed, proving they lack spatial quality, have lost a crucial connection with the dweller and are largely irrelevant to their site. The research seeks to remedy the ‘shoe-box’ apartment by applying principles from the theory of phenomenology and an interlocking typology. Phenomenology is introduced as a key theory to help develop a ‘ground’ in specificity and re-instill the notion of bodily experience in space. This theoretical position, based on Steven Holl’s architectural interpretation of phenomenology, with a bodily emphasis, is applied through four strategies to integrate a spatial experience. Typologically, interlocking apartments provide a precedent, where by their very nature, the interlocking produces an interesting relationship between spaces. This precedent analysis provides seven techniques which are coupled with the strategies from Holl, and applied to the design. The resulting design is a successful mixed-use urban solution, with a focus on the outcome of interlocking apartments


Charlotte Stewert| M/Arch (Prof )

A Line of Best Fit


This design proposes a strategy for earthquake strengthening, preserving and upgrading the built environment, and expanding and connecting the pedestrian realm. The site is two earthquake prone buildings on the block between Marion Street and Taranaki Street in central Wellington. A cut through the centre of the Aspro and Cathie Buildings ties the buildings together to strengthen and create a new arcade as public space. The design is divided into three components: Void, Curve, Pattern and Structure. Void investigates the implications of cutting a portion out the existing buildings and the opportunities this provides for connection, urban interaction, and light. Curve discusses the unusual form of the design in terms of scale, the human response and the surrounding spaces. Pattern and Structure considers the structural requirements of the project and how a void enveloped in perforated screens can strengthen the earthquake prone buildings.The importance of connection, providing strength in the city, a dialogue between old and new, and engagement with the unexpected are evaluated. Opportunities for further development and research are discussed, with particular reference to how the principles of the design could be implemented on a larger scale throughout our cities.


Thomas Strange | M/Arch (Prof )

The First MoveA Home for Asylum Seekers on the Far Side of Paradise

Supervisor: Daniel Brown

Nauru, an isolated island in the Central Pacific, is host to a prison-like Australian offshore processing centre that currently detains people in inhumane conditions. This thesis asks: How can architecture be perceived as a temporary ‘home’ to asylum seekers from disparate backgrounds all brought together in one place for an unknown period of time? The aim of this design-led research is to critically consider how architecture can play a significant role in remediating the authoritarian, prison-like conditions of processing centres. This thesis proposes that a sense of worth and belonging can be established through developing an architecture connected intrinsically to the landscape and cultural context in which it sits. The six objectives of this thesis are to: 1) provide a sense of place to a wide range of asylum seekers from differing ethnicities, cultures, and social backgrounds; 2) improve their sense of individuality, self-worth, belonging, and community; 3) prepare them for entering a new Western culture where they can more readily assimilate; 4) mitigate the appearance of power and authority in a large processing facility; 5) provide a sense of human-scale, order and orientation within a large processing facility; 6) and to engage and contribute to the local host indigenous community.


Henry Velvin| M/Arch (Prof )

Ground-CoverInvestigating an Ecological Field-Architecture


With many traditional conservation approaches becoming outdated and inefficient this project looks at the role of architecture in facilitating forward thinking and system based conservation approaches aimed at high levels of self-organization. Through the consolidation of architecture, with concerns relating to ecological conservation, landscape ecology and landscape architecture new approaches to the development of New Zealand’s conservation estate are explored. This thesis looks at the possibility of integrating a system of structures into the landscape at Ngā Potiki reserve (South Wairarapa, New Zealand) which; through both their architecture, and programme, actively advance the restoration and invigoration of the sites ecologies. With the aim of expanding public ecological literacy the structures provide habitation, and importantly, the opportunity for visitors to engage with and understand the significance of the forces that drive natural ecologies.


Jae Warrander| M/Arch (Prof )

Performance of Scale


This thesis responds to the wellington CBD’s static environmental conditions, questioning how ‘shifts in scale’ could influence the performance of space, and resultantly how performative space can create a connection between the body and the city. The framework for the performance design iterations engages two alternate scaled conditions both of which are explored through parametric based software in conjunction with physical modelling. This parametric based technology enables the comprehension and fabrication of complex forms, allowing the design process to move between the digital world and real world

with ease. Each design iteration ‘shifts in scale’, focuses on the combination of components, providing feedback on the productive application as to how they influence the performance of space. The design iterations systematically bring together parameters responding to: Scaled Volume, Intersection, Context, Traversal Movement and Access, Circulation, Speed, and Connection. The resultant design is evaluated for its performative success in allowing the body to shift and move between multiple scaled volumes and floor levels.


Christopher Welch| M/Arch (Prof )

Selective InterferenceThe Parametric Description of Form through Programmatic, Social and Performative Criteria


Complex interacting systems guided by simple rules can be used to produce novel, emergent solutions. Considering this, how can the interaction of programme, typology and contextual information be used to generate conceptual massing in architecture? Parametric design tools and visual programming languages are fast becoming an important part of the architects design process. This research aims to bring these aspects of the design process together to generate an architecture where programme and aesthetic are derived in equal measure by the architect and the computer. The project began with a series of technical studies focusing primarily on space planning,

massing, site analysis and circulation with the purpose of using an amalgamation of these techniques to develop into a final generative algorithm. The viability of the algorithm is then tested through the generation of test buildings across variety of sites. The final algorithm provides constraints in such a way that the architecture evolves in a natural, predictable way that can still surprise and inform, as well as consistently producing viable, interesting iterations of buildings. This process, described as an “open box” structure, produced a wide variety of working concepts and provided a high level of control as a designer.


Jorle Wiesen | M/Arch (Prof )

The Wrong Side of the TracksBig is Good


This thesis was a response to the planned rebuild of Christchurch following the February 2011 earthquake. The rebuild proposal calls for the creation of a “diverse and dense central hub”, thus this thesis explored the introduction of social housing, in the tower from, to the CBD. The design led research involved an ongoing modelling exercise through which the design was developed. The proposal comprises of three social housing towers which condense the proposed low-rise housing from a 11000m2 footprint to a combined footprint of 1500m2. The result is an expansion of the publically available green space along the proposed eastern frame of the city. Formerly this project explores a way of challenging the suburban sprawl of Christchurch and questions the notion of a low-rise CBD. Siting the project on the Worchester Street axis brings the tower and it’s socially marginalised occupants to the forefront of the city. The undulating towers form acts as continuation of the axis from the horizontal into the vertical. Public space is shifted to the vertical axis as a continuation of the parkland amongst which the project sits. This explores connectivity between the private vertical space and the public horizontal.


Dawid Wojasz | M/Arch (Prof )

Ricky Stadium


The population of Wainuiomata could increase by 35% following council plans to build 2000 new houses. This could erode a sense of community already weakened by the decline of Wainuiomata’s Sports Clubs. This thesis explores how architecture can enhance community identity by asking, how can architecture’s relationship with the sports field be reconsidered to intensify (social) connections between sport and community? A mixed method research approach was used to obtain data from a broad range of sources. Data collected was interpreted into diagrams, describing relationships within the Wainuiomata community, enabling it to be understood spatially. A

series of design tests analysed ways this data could inform the design of a building. This analysis was used to develop a design brief and to inform design iterations, and ultimately a developed design. These designs developed an understanding of how a ‘sports field’ can be intensified as a spatial and programmatic proposition. The resulting design is a sport and education facility defined by overlapping surfaces which create a dialogue between sports field as a formal condition and a range of programmes. Architecture, in this role, acts to connect a diverse range of community groups facilitating social interaction and enhancing local community.


Low density detached houses do not provide a sustainable solution to address future housing needs and exacerbate suburban sprawl. Report shows that New Zealand’s major cities exhibit a strong central city living trend. Medium density housing is becoming increasingly important as an alternative housing type. However there are some common issues with this type of housing. The lack of personal space is identified as one of the key issues and is the focus of the thesis. Based on a critical literature review, the research led design investigates whether high quality personal spaces can be created by adopting the

close-grain perimeter block with shared courtyard typology on a selected site in Wellington city. The research also aims to find out how to make this typology responsive to local needs. The thesis contributes in defining a people-oriented housing scheme, which represents a new medium density housing typology. The design provides quality personal space and encourages high density living. The findings and conclusion assist in the creation of places that people may feel connected to and spaces that people remember with pride, by providing an exemplar ‘urban village’.

Duan Zhao | M/Arch (Prof )

Urban VillageA Critique of Personal Space in Medium Density Housing



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School of Architecture, Victoria University of Wellington.

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Design research @ vuw

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