a new beginning


It been a while since my last post, and during this break I have found many things and lost others.
My thesis is still very much orientated towards developing the experience of residing in Tutukaka BUT moving away from the idea of 'placemaking' (prone to becoming the vague village square) rather celebrating the liminality that this place passed through creates. 



The concept of the liminal (an act of passing through a threshold) first dawned on me whilst on a bush walk between the main land of Tutukaka and an adjacent island.   
Walking from mainland to island one does not simply travel from here to there, a path winds down the cliff face through a variety of natural thresholds (see large image above). The journey from mainland to the island is directed, focused and intensified; magic can be found, not only in arriving at the destination but in the journey.

With the rise of globalised tourism to the travelled landscape the divide between the destination and the locations traveled through are forever increasing. The contemporary tourist jumps from continent to continent; distances, orientation, time and the appreciation of the journey are lost. The success of a trip abroad is no longer determined by experiences or memories of these travels but the number of destinations ticked off the individuals bucket list.

The destination becomes a place to be celebrated, revered and conserved; the location passed through deemed place-less or locations of service.

The design portion of the thesis now chooses to embrace the liminality of the landscape passed through.  Slowing down the contemporary consumer tourist to appreciate the essence of places journeyed through, whilst acknowledging the pull of the destination.  

Concrete modelling (right) have helped me solidify my idea. I see Tutukaka at present as a single threshold, in which one only arrives to then leave again on their quest to the destination (Poor Knights Island). In the design portion of my thesis my goal is that the program created will act like that of the bush walk and modelling. The ability to slow, intensify and focus the experience of travelling through a place so one may experience its essence rather than be a trip of lost opportunity.

Next step is to research where these ideas might fit into architectural theory (thesis) and how the idea of the journey through program/place/landscape have influenced architects and resultant architecture (design). 

A lot to do, always.