Backyard

Oakley Creek (Te Auaunga) is one of Auckland’s longest urban streams

It's not often I haven't heard of a place in my own backyard, and the Oakley Creek Waterfall is certainly one of them being only 12 minutes drive from home. I went to investigate and was not disappointed.

It is the only natural waterfall in Central Auckland, and hidden away. It's small and peaceful, but being fairly secluded, it is recommended you go there with a walking buddy. Bring a picnic, it seems to be the way to do it.

There are multiple ways to go onto the walkway and it's all worth a bit of exploring - the signs aren't too helpful. And the typical Auckland question: where do you park?! Google Maps show the track and it depends on where you start from. There are plenty of side streets off Great North Road, some which feed directly into the walkway behind people's houses. You almost feel like you're in their backyard sometimes, for lack of a fence.

A map of it's features, visit the Friends of Oakley Creek website for the full version.

Oakley Creek is like the water spine of the isthmus, going from north Hillsborough near the Manukau Harbour, through Mt Roskill, Waterview (where all the motorway works are occurring) and out to the Waitemata Harbour. Locals may have experienced parts of it, such as the stream running past Mt Roskill Grammar, or the riparian areas in Unitec. Over the years a nice walking track and viewing platform has been constructed to allow better appreciation of this natural habitat, running roughly parallel to Great North Road from the motorway onramp.

Swimming is possible by reports of people jumping in, but I couldn't find any official advice to this. Common sense tells me the stream runs through the length of urban Auckland, so it would accumulate things along the way. Perhaps not swimming there a few days after the rain is advisable which is what we would do at the beaches fringing the city.

The Friends of Oakley Creek (est. 2004) have taken upon themselves to "protect, enhance and restore the ecological health" of the Oakley Creek Environs. They have a map of the walkway, as well as educational events that promote its environment needs. A nice half-day adventure if you're up for it!

Melbourne

A visual summary of my Melbourne trip.

Amazing street art all over the place but this is one of my favourite. Saw a few of the same artist around too - anyone know who did this? (in Stevenson Lane near Chinatown)

Federation Square

Just a mall but had so much architectural effect to the whole thing.

RMIT building by Lyons Architects

The grand hall inside the National Gallery of Victoria - stunning piece of stained glass with Victorian motifs.

Cranes were a common sight, guess Melbourne is developing around its architectural heritage.

National Library of Victoria with two exhibition spaces on the circular spaces wrapping around this central area.

RMIT Design Hub, explored the inside of it quite thoroughly.

One of the many laneways that epitomises Melbourne.

The 'Pixel Building'

An old laneway converted into the lobby of a hotel. Notice the attempt at acknowledging the heritage architecture on the right by an imperfect mirroring.

COCA - contemporary art, unfortunately closed when I went there!

An art installation in the main lobby of NGV, the bowls circulated the water pool and every time they bumped a clear ring of ceramic can be heard.

There are also more photos on my Google+ album.

Brake

Brake House by Ron Sang

Yesterday I had the rare chance to tour the famous Brake House in Titirangi thanks to the Auckland Architecture Association. Designed by architect Ron Sang, a prominent Chinese New Zealander, the house was completed in 1976, before leaky building syndromes and building regulation reforms. The elegance of the house in Titirangi's signature wild naturesque landscape reminded many of American designs like Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater House.

Immediately upon entering the house, you felt the sense of attention to detail that encompassed the architecture of that period. The platform leading into the house had a precarious edginess to it. Eventually we figured it out - a lack of our standardised contemporary handrails. Any such feature (your usual 1m high, grabbable railing) would have destroyed the elegance of the design entirely.

Originally designed for Brian Brake, one of New Zealand's most famous photographers, the house includes a studio, dark room, cinema downstairs as well as plenty of glazing and platforms. As a Japanophile, Brake requested a tatami room (this is the glass box floating out into the bushes, shown above).

Incredible reflections all throughout the house, merging nature and architecture.

The architect Ron Sang came and gave us an intimate insight to the making of this house.

Visiting this house is such an inspiration, but as Ron Sang said, there is no way such a house can be built as it is now because of the many regulatory constraints. Back in the 70s, this building only needed 20 A1 sheets to document it - these days you would need at least 100 sheets marking the incredible change that the architectural profession has had over the years. The fusion of Asian and American design in the woodiness of Titirangi is an incredible feat though and, for those who afford it, it is currently up for sale.

Bach

Baches are a staple of New Zealand architecture and it is where NZ architects get a lot of space (in every sense of the word) to experiment and work with our natural landscape. This bach by Min Hall frames the sea element with generous glazing and large deck spaces. What I like most about this bach is how it is split up into modules to fit around the trees. It's not the only one to do that (the McCahon Artist Residence by Pete Bossley springs to mind) and you can imagine the architecture maturing as the trees grow up around it.

See HOME New Zealand's article - Outtakes: A beautiful beach getaway by Min Hall for more.

Authentic

A building I designed in architecture school in 2008 has proved to be useful in illustrating the points of authenticity and market space for my thesis. Revisiting this project has been quite enjoyable. Here is a brief summary of the project and the issues that it raises and the City Farmers' Market in Britomart that it challenges.

Britomart Farmers Market project (2008)

Long section

This project explores the notion of the ‘authentic’ for an urban farmers market in Auckland. The site in 2008 was pre-development Britomart with the site utilized temporarily as an open air car park with a farmers market springing up every Saturday morning. It demonstrates the temporal dimension of urban public space and how its sense of place evolves over time.

Streetview image from 2009 - one of the perks of Google Streetview not updating Auckland for 4+ years. Of course, now the site has become the Country Club, an airy bar full of cigarette smoke and high end consumers.

The crux of the scheme is finding an ‘authentic’ for urban Auckland instead of transplanting the character of a historic or geographically displaced market typology. The scheme is situated in the vacant lot on the southwestern corner of Galway and Gore Street in the Britomart Precinct. The farmers market is designed to bring people in via an ‘exhibitionary pathway’, utilized in retail and museum design to slow down the pace of the viewer. The design worked with the imprinted history of the site, specifically the imprint left by a demolished building on an adjacent building. By bringing market-goers up via an escalator and allowing them to cross the length of the building, the imprint of Auckland’s past is put on display and acknowledged alongside a freely adaptable market of current day wares and produce. In this way, the architecture brings together past and present whilst working for a future condition that Auckland can call its own.

Cross section

This Farmers’ Market project challenges this notion of bringing an authentic quality from elsewhere into an urban context and character. The scheme was designed in 2008 and the site has changed dramatically by the time of writing in 2013. Some things last, however. The City Farmers’ Market that the project drew inspiration and created critique of still exists by popular demand. As in 2008, the website still states that it is an ‘authentic inner-city farmers’ market at the heart of Britomart in Auckland’s CBD’ – an oxymoronic reading between ‘authentic’ and ‘inner city’ as the source of this authenticity is uncertain. In 2008, the market charter had a requirement that stalls provide a piece of hessian sacking as a table cloth in an effort to create a faux ‘authentic’ aesthetic – this has now disappeared from the charter. Although it may help bring cohesiveness to the collection of stalls, there is the problem whereby striving for a character which is not authentic to Auckland to the heart of the Auckland Central Business District denies Auckland from ever building up its own farmers’ market character. Other requirements include using wooden crates and baskets to exhibit produce and limiting the use of plastic.

Aesthetics aside, material is affected and relevant to the architectural expression of this urban space and public place. On one side, Britomart station’s glass louvre extension to the heritage post office building sees the 20^th century engage the historic character of Auckland. On the other side, the high end fashion shops and bars are clad in black metallic mesh and other contemporary materials. The controlled manner of conducting the City Farmer’s market is disjointed with the development of Britomart.

What are your experiences with this site and how it has evolved over the years?

Boom

How do you feel about Auckland's population boom? This is the topic of discussion as our city plans for the future. With the amalgamation of 7 different councils and the drafting of the Unitary Plan, there is much food for thought and bureaucratic logistics to be had.

This is what they thought in the 1960s:

A quaint short film on how they saw the city developing jars with many of the ideas we now have around urban planning, design and architecture, particularly around sustainable development. Many are outdated modernist concepts.

A brief summary: cars, cars and more cars; highways and carpark buildings were amazing; unsustainable urban sprawl created the Kiwi dream.

And once I get around to it, I'll have some blog posts about my (very architectural) trip to Melbourne!

Ridge

At the moment, I'm focusing on the ridge beam and its importance in the tradition Chinese house. The book Yin Yu Tang states that the beam is more symbolic than structural. How can this be so when it is the highest building member of the frame? There is a saying in Chinese - 上梁不正下梁歪, which, in true Asian style, summarises the following in 7 thoughtful characters: if the ridge beam is crooked, then the lower members will also be crooked. This describes the Chinese house as the family within it - the association is so powerful that it is almost metaphor, just as one family member is not only themselves (as is in the individualistic Western cultures) but their whole family collective.

A real flower ball complete with a tassel.

There is also a ceremony for raising this beam. In the traditional close-knit village, everyone would be invited around for a feast and a red 'flower ball' would be attached to the ridge beam, which would sometimes be painted red. They would also perform the ritual of paying respects to the ancestors with an altar, sticks of incense, and offerings of food. A similar ceremony takes place when the site is selected too, the purpose to have the ancestors overseeing the process and imbuing the communal happiness into the house even from the early stages.

Imposing this importance on the Balmoral site model, marking its being in the space. Also did studies of seeing it from the street above the silhouette of facades.

As I started drawing the ridge beam detail of my ancestral hall, I noticed most of it had corroded with age. Very little of the relief sculptures could be made out. So how would I find out what the symbolism was? To me, it isn't really all that important to know exactly what the symbolism is. The usual symbols can be expected of course: dragons (energy/power), phoenix (longevity, renewal), various fruits and flowers (fertility, to have sons). There's also plenty of symbolism underneath the roofline, protected by its shadow. In a way it gives me the space to create my own symbolism on this beam for my architecture - one that talks of Chinese here in Aotearoa as a shared land.

Connection

With the gap between the Capitol Cinema and the buildings on the north side, there is an opportunity to connect the mainstreet (Dominion Road) with the back street (the service lane/multiuse space between Balmoral shops and behind the Warehouse). Furthermore, there is a potential connection from the backstreet across to the Warehouse carpark, perhaps activating that space.

A further cross connection such as this one increases flow through layers of Balmoral, instead of depending on vehicle trodden routes which move around blocks. Good examples of these small but effective connections are Fearon Hay's Imperial Lane and the path inside of RTA Studio's Ironbank Building on Karangahape Road.

Within Imperial Lane, a slight bend in the axis from Fort Lane (front) to Queen Street  (lighted path in the back right).  A slight slope up to the central area creates a sense of elevation and arrival as a threshold to Fort Lane. The entrance at Queen Street, on the other hand, is camouflaged among the other street frontages.

In Imperial Lane, the space between the historic Queen Street buildings are converted into a commercial/eatery/office spaces with contemporary materials working in the same language as the industrial past of the original shell. Connecting Queen Street (importantly the downtown area) and Imperial Lane which, before the streetscape renovation, was a dumpy back alley with unpleasant smells (still has some today I suppose), Imperial Lane's connection breaks up the large block into more pedestrian friendly paths to Fort Lane, Customs Street and Fort Street - a new network beneficial for the area that breaks away from the straight street edge typology typical of Queen Street and Balmoral Shops.

At the Ironbank, the path access from K Road to Cross Street bends around approviding approaches to the internal courtyard (activated by beanbags and the umbrellas) creating a multi-axial and inhabitable semi-public space.

The Iron Bank on the other hand does not bore through an existing fabric. Within the building complex itself, a pedestrian pathway was formed, connecting K Road with Cross Street around the back. Interestingly the path is not a straight one - this also decreases the likelihood of the lane becoming a wind tunnel (although first hand experience shows that there is a bit of a problem with this).

A common trait between these examples is that there is a bend in the connecting street and through route is activated with different uses - beanbags, tables and chairs, game machines. The space between Dominion Road and the Warehouse carpark has a bend also, which provides micro-climate protection (i.e. against wind tunnels) and possibilities for an interesting activated space.

I had a bit of a conversation on Twitter about these urban connections with @citysituated, an urban planner, just within the fleeting dialogue we had recalled a bunch of great examples where small scale connectivity in the city helps create vibrant pedestrian networks. Airbridges at PWC, Takutai Square, Cross Street, connecting arcades in Queens Arcade, Midcity... all to varying degrees of success.

@bobbshen how interesting! You could also look at aerial spaces such as sky walks between buildings eg. Downtown and PWC building
— Melanie Taylor (@citysituated) April 22, 2013

Model1

Site model of a part of Balmoral, focusing on the back area behind Capitol Cinema and Warehouse building. Warehouse and rear buildings not in yet. 1 : 200 scale. 

Even with this partially completed site model, the typology of buildings next to the intersection at Balmoral can be seen. The straight edge frontage on Dominion Road, the joined shops all stretching back to various degrees. The largest building at Balmoral shops is the Capitol Cinema, the large one in the centre. Off to the extreme left, the row of shops end to the landscaped corner of the large Balmoral-Dominion Road intersection opposite Potter's Park.

Around the back, the staggered formation of buildings and for some of them, their patched together nature, can be felt. Admittedly, there are yet more little shacks attached to the ends of some of the second storey levels and in real life, cars fill up most of the indented spaces.

To the right hand side of the Capitol Cinema, a tiny shop was plugged in between  the heritage cinema and the Ngaire Chambers (modeled with its facade siloheutte). To the left of the cinema, there is a space like an alleyway closed off from the street with a poster ridden gate. I've left it open, perhaps a way for me to establish a connection between these interesting back spaces and the mainstreet. It also has a vertical nature.

The Unitary Plan lists Balmoral as one of the 'historic character – business’ zones. In light of future intensification, the local centre zoning also allows for up to four storeys (currently most are two storey, Capitol may be considered three) with residential units allowed on the top stories (which is what Balmoral has already). Great opportunities with the air space around these buildings but need to keep thinking about the 'historic character' of the architecture that makes Balmoral so urban and distinctive.

In terms of memory (one of the main themes of my thesis), a friend commented in studio that he knows that space between Capitol and Warehouse very well... apparently he goes there to get cardboard boxes! For others, this space is their home street, you can see by the amount of colourful laundry hanging on stair railings.

I'll be posting more about this model as it evolves - eventually I'll be adding some designed elements to it to explore what could happen in this space. I'm also looking forward to the Taniwha and Chinese Festival next Saturday (27th April) which will see a pōwhiri between Maori and Chinese. Thanks @NZBC88 for the heads up.

Balmoral

Balmoral, Auckland has some great hidden spaces around its heritage architecture.

Capitol Cinema

Although humble in scale and ornament, Balmoral contains a whole heap of heritage architecture that speaks of a semi-urban condition. Most of the buildings are 2 storey with residential uses often on top. In recent times there are some which have become commercial too, with doors leading up a long flight of stairs to some great eateries (eg Gogo Music Cafe, My Kitchen)

Ngaire Chambers

Balmoral maintains a strong flat frontage to Dominion Road. A part of its character, but it also leaves little room for variety or on street usage. The heritage front is accompanied by a rather messy feeling, haphazard back end - there are strong service lanes on both sides of Dominion Road with some very interesting spaces.

The buildings have changed from use to use over the years - the most valued heritage building, the Capitol Cinema, went from a theatre to what is now part theatre, part climbing wall and mah-jong hall, to name a few. The service lane doubles as a residential mini-street with laundry hanging, people meeting and talking. The Warehouse orientates itself to utilise the service lane too, making a more Asian street feeling, multipurpose space than the mainstreet. I've no doubt I'll be making use of these spaces in my project as much as the street front.

Behind the row of shops, a condition very different from the street front.

Concept

Milestone - Concept Crit

Yesterday was the first public showing of the theses, the concept crit. Chiefly to convey the main idea and the project within that idea, it was a brief encounter with critics that can give a real impression of what the thesis means to other people.

Drawing of my great-grandfather's house in section (cut in half)

Thankfully after my rather haphazard presentation (need more clarity in what my points are - hard because I'm still not entirely convinced as to what they are), one of the critics picked up on exactly what I had in mind. Taking the essence of Chinese culture into the existing streetscape at Balmoral, utilising the backstreets and making connections where they might not exist. Something about that communal street architecture is exciting and has relevance to the way Balmoral has developed traditionally.

Balmoral is a different playing field now. The project isn't about erasing the past (including the charming heritage feel of Balmoral), but working into the existing fabric of the street to enliven it - better moments throughout the space. If you look at it now, it's rather linear: strip median, road, kerb footpath, shopfronts for miles.

So let me know if you know of any interesting spaces in Balmoral, around, at the back of, within buildings!

Crumble

Timelapse PWC October 2012 from Nikau Contractors on Vimeo.

The illusion of the timelapse hides the fact that these demolition processes take an awfully long time as they have to break through all of the architectural technologies that we rely on to be very strong.

In 2011, I remember standing in the Christchurch CBD and watching one of these huge jaw-like machines crunch away at concrete and reinforcing steel. The machine itself was sitting on a hill of rubble of its own creation and a powerful cannon of water was used to drench the dust that would otherwise smother the adjacent surroundings. Hardly as dramatic as a blow up demolition, this building was the MLC Building (cnr Hereford and Manchester St), one of the first highrises in Christchurch at 11 storeys. Before the large Boxing Day aftershock it was planned to be saved. Talking to some of the locals standing around watching the building go down, there is a nostalgia to think that this huge building will become void, then as the memory fades, something else will replace it.

The MLC Building's staircase to nowhere.

Mentawai

Time to end this blogging drought! Having been to China, it was a great cultural overload even for me. And without a way to access Blogger, Facebook or Twitter due to the Great Firewall, I've felt pretty oppressed. I am still taking my time processing the many photos I took of my China trip + ancestral village, so those will come in due course.

On a side step, I saw this fascinating video of Joey Lawrence trekking through the Mentawai with waaaay too much equipment to photograph the remnants of this rare and rich way of life (ignore how this is a huge advertisement - I swear I could have done just as well with my cranky old Sony DSLR).

"Hello people from the entire world! Come to the islands of Mentawai quickly. Right now, the Mentawai are still alive. I am still alive. But when I die, you will not see my culture any more."

Cultures like the Mentawai are dying out. A series of photographs show the old grandfather (I presume) with their grandchild, the elder in the traditional garb and the younger donning common western clothes. There must be a handful of cultures that still keep so true to how they have existed for centuries. It is this same handful of cultures that slips out of one's grasp like sand from the palm of one's hand.

One can only hope that the hauntingly moving chants and traditions are carried onto those with the Donald Duck T-shirt and muscle tees. Maybe.

Throughout China I've seen an enormous disregard for historic artefacts - there's just so much of it and the pressures of the current age quite easily stamp them out. Often is the sight where an old stone abode crumbles to the weather to be replaced by a really ugly new and much taller building. But that is for another blog.

Ambury

Ambury Regional Park, from the coastline.

Having gone to Ambury farm to do some investigation on the Manukau Harbour, I was stunned to discover the rich palatte of colours on this hidden coastline. It is a part of the foreshore walk, I think, but from Ambury Farm, it is cut off by two large paddocks. Bright yellow lichens were on the rocks, lime jelly green seaweed in the cracks. Deep grey on the volcanic stone. Worth exploring.