Design strategies for the evelopment f the Unitec Campus Owairaka
Copyright 2009 Unitec New Zealand. All rights reserved. No part may be reproduced without permission ISBN 978-0-473-15240-6 Book and cover design by Mel Robinson and Athena Sommerfield Printed and Bound in the United States by lulu.com Additional Copies available at www.lulu.com This publication documents the work of a design studio of the Department of Landscape Architecture, Unitec NZ. The Department of Landscape Architecture, Unitec NZ, offers both Bachelor and Masters by project programmes in Landscape Architecture. www.unitec.ac.nz
contents How can Unitec connect to the wider community? Emily Lloyd Michael Rogan How can Unitec increase density? Ben Clark Marc Vale Rose Goodwin Natalie Mardell Andrew Mason Ryan Hodgson How can Unitec generate more revenue? Jessica James Jeff White James Walker Christopher George How can Unitec have an increased presence on Carrington Road? Chris Hinton Nick Ison How can Unitec become a community asset? Jeremy Parlane Joseph Mc Cready Trish Teaurere How can Unitec become a 24/7 campus? Charlotte Heibner Will Francis
This publication documents a design project by fourth year BLA students of the Department of Landscape Architecture, Unitec New Zealand. The studio project and this publication would not of been possible without the generous support and hard work of students and colleagues. Firstly I would like to thank all the students who took part in the studio for their commitment to a project where the site was very familiar to them yet still proved capable of producing many unexpected discoveries, thanks to; Benjamin Clark, William Francis, Christopher George, Rosalie Goodwin, Charlotte Heibner, Christopher Hinton, Ryan Hodgson, Nicholas Ison, Jessica James, Emily Lloyd, Natalie Mardell, Joseph McCready, Andrew Mason, Jeremy Parlane, Melanie Robinson, Michael Rogan, Nooao Teaurere, Marc Vale, James Walker, and Jeffrey White. I would also like to thank Unitec NZ, in particular Rick Ede, CEO, and Craig Fowler Director of Campus Planning. They gave us both an opportunity to work with Unitec as they start to develop the future direction of the campus and also provided sponsorship for the publication. David Irwin, Will Thresher, Orson Waldock, Esther Hjelmstrรถm, Helen Preston-Jones, Knut Pinto-Delas, Lauren White, and Peter Connolly kindly contributed valuable advice and direction to the project Finally I would like to thank Mel Robinson and Athena Sommerfield for the elegant and informative design of this publication.
The development of the educational campus has been a constant source of invention for design practice and research. From its begining in the Western European monastery to the Oxbridge quad to the American university park to the contemporary e campus, these new types represent innovative planning, landscape, and architectural thinking. The challenge of this project, to develop a number of design strategies for the development of the Unitec Owairaka campus, was to understand these valuable precedents and at the same time, understand the particularities of an extraordinary site. The Unitec Owairaka campus, a 55-hectare city site, lies on an ancient lava flow from the nearby Owairaka volcano. The site lies between the towns of Point Chevalier to the north and Mt Albert in the south. The land falls from Carrington Road on the eastern side of the campus to Oakley Creek in the west. The campus is dominated by the landscape, a strong topography of ridge, valley and river. Human settlement of the site started with Maori who occupied sites along the Wai Iti (Oakley Creek) the stream provided access to both the hinterland, Owairaka, and to fishing grounds in the Waitamata. Nineteen-century European occupation of the site happened piecemeal, with the building of small-scale factories along the stream, while areas above the valley were farmed until the establishment of the Whau Lunatic Asylum in 1865. The new hospital, located at the Pt Chevalier end of the site followed a 19th century medical regime, the confinement of the mentally ill within a closed world of hospital, park and model farm. Many exotic trees where planted in the 1880s to form what has become a very fine arboretum. Over the next one hundred years the institution expanded, changing its name to the Oakley Mental Hospital then Carrington Hospital. In 1976 the Carrington Technical Institute was established as a satellite campus on the southern edge of the hospital, by the Auckland Technical Institute. With the closure of the Carrington Hospital in the early nineties, the new Carrington Polytechnic acquired the hospital and the grounds, then in 1994, renamed the amalgamated site, the Unitec Institute of Technology. The history of the site; from farm to mental hospital to satellite campus, is almost a case study of how institutions developed on periphery of the 19th and 20th century city. However with the post war breakdown of the traditional city structure, the rigid distinction of centre and edge has been transformed into a new city of many centres. This fundamental urban change in the urban structure of Auckland was hastened by a love affair with the private motorcar and the almost immediate adoption of the American freeway transport system. Indeed the first motorways in Auckland were built five years before the first motorways were built in the UK. The immediate urban consequence of the new motorway system was the start of Auckland’s famous sprawl, destroying the civic authority of Queen Street as the centre of Auckland as surely as the post war freeways destroyed the civic centre of Downtown Los Angeles.
Now Auckland is a polycentric city, a dense layer of infrastructure networks, motorways, internet, mobile phones, a network of many centres. The contemporary Auckland citizen navigates this thinly spread urban mat with ease, passing seamlessly from supermarket to school, sport stadium to beach, mall to workplace. Unitec NZ, now finds itself at the intersection of two of the most important roads in Auckland. The North Western motorway to West Auckland, one of the fastest growing areas of Auckland, and the soon to be completed SH20, a direct link to the Airport. Suddenly, Unitec is located in the twenty first century equivalent of down town Auckland. What are the possibilities that this situation offers Unitec NZ ? The institution now finds itself in the enviable position of owning fifty-five hectares of land in what has become a centre of the new Auckland and having the luxury to be able to ask, what should a campus look like in the twenty first century? Tempting as the building of a traditional Acadian campus set in Unitec’s extraordinary landscape may be, the answer should be found in the very condition that has moved Unitec from periphery to centre; connectivity. That is, connection to the network city that has produced this unique opportunity. Connections should firstly to be to the local, by rethinking Unitec NZ beyond its property boundaries, the campus could reach out and make valuable connections to the surrounding public spaces; Chamberlain Park Golf Course, Western Springs Park, Motat Museum, Auckland Zoo, Ponsonby Rugby Fields, and Western Springs Stadium. By making Unitec part of this greater Auckland network of public space, Unitec could become one of Auckland’s new parks. Opening up the campus as a new public space for Auckland, irrevocable changes the nature of the campus from cloister to park. The nature of learning in such a campus would also be opened up, from teaching young 20 year olds for three years to teaching everyone through out their lives. The architecture of such an institution would change from classrooms and lecture halls to a network of meeting places. The cultural appurtenances of campus life; art gallery, library, performing arts space, will open out to the larger community. As this new social assemblage grows, it will institute places to live and work as well as study. We will start to discern a new kind of social life, a new kind of city, connected to the social and the landscape through a dense yet fluid network. The Bachelor of Landscape Architecture students faced these challenges, not by trying to develop some kind of utopian master plan but rather through a considered investigation of the larger site. Starting on top of the Owairaka volcano and marking the flow of lava across the landscape, revealed how the Carrington Road ridge divides the landscape into two catchments, on the west, the Unitec site, falling to the Wai Iti and the east, falling to Western Springs. Starting from this simple observation, students built a comprehensive knowledge of the Unitec environment. Framing this work within research into the structure of other campuses helped student to start to develop a series of questions about the ways in which Unitec could develop. How could the campus become a twenty-four hour operation? How could the campus become more intensively used? How could the campus link to the community? These were just a few of the questions that students started to pose. The answers,
a series of design investigations provided a number of fascinating scenarios. Two students explored the use of direct precedents from American Universities. Jeff White proposed the establishment of a research park overlooking the Wai Iti Creek. James Walker combined a study of the many sporting facilities on and near Unitec to propose the establishment of a sport campus. The well-known traffic problems along Carrington Road and the proposed establishment of the new SH20 along the western side of Oakley creek prompted many students to propose a new entry from either the new motorway or from the existing Great North Road. Such an entry, forming a link with the existing entry three, made a new crossroad through the campus. Mike Rogan notably explored this option, developing both a cross link and a long central spine running north/south through the site, servicing both existing and proposed parts of the campus. Carrington Road also came in for careful examination; Rose Goodwin recast the road as the public face of Unitec, (a little like the role Symonds Street plays for Auckland University). Nicholas Ison assiduously removed all the cars from the campus, carefully placing them in large car parking buildings that stood sentinel like along Carrington Road. Making a new centre for the campus was another important theme; Jeremy Parlane proposed the establishment of a central park, made up of the existing stormwater ponds and the rugby fields. New building programmes would be placed around the new gathering space, that is already dominated by the incomparable Unitec Wharenui. Intensifying the use of the existing Unitec land was an important idea that the student readily understood and was investigated in a through manner. Jessica James cleverly compared the size of the site around Building One with that of the AUT campus and discovered that the footprint of AUT, while roughly the same, accommodating twenty thousand students! Joseph McCready used a public transport infrastructure to link bus and rail hubs with the public space of Unitec and Western Springs. He proposed a tramline, running through the neighborhood, serving students during the week and families in the weekend, to open the campus up to the community, while at the same time engendering the building of a new campus infrastructure around the tram line. A new cultural infrastructure was initially proposed for the campus to balance the park and sport infrastructure of Western Springs, however the real possibility of the development of a new urban infrastructure exists, the building of apartments, offices, cafes and shops was proposed in coordination with more typical campus buildings. The new public transport system would both link and generate a new kind of campus. Two other projects, Natalie Mardells understanding of the different qualities of water present on the campus demonstrated a keen sensitivity to the environment, while Charlotte Heibner showed a casual brutality in her subdivision of the existing site, halving the campus to form a new core around the stormwater lakes. What all the projects share is a careful understanding of the site; not just as a simple topography but something that is irreducibly part of something larger, a larger social, environmental, and cultural mileu, the work offers us a new kind urbanism, one that is pragmatic yet suffused with the landscape.
Amsterdam
Cambridge
Delft
Harvard
La Trobe
LSU
Otago
Oxford
Stanford
Sydney
Texas
UCLA
How can Unitec connect to the wider community?
ecologies
intensities
hydrology
buildings
circulation
existing components
Connecting to Point Chevalier Emily Lloyd
Point Chevalier is the first business node of Auckland City when entering from the West. The Auckland City Council has recognised that the region is rapidly growing and that growth, and the change it brings, needs to be managed. Point Chevalier plays an important part in the Unitec identity, as most people who attend Unitec drive to the campus and over 80% pass through Point Chevalier’s business centre.
ecologies
slope
hydrology
Building One has both heritage and iconic value. It is the most important historical building on the Unitec campus. Formally the Auckland Mental Asylum its grounds now make up the rest of the Unitec campus. Building One has long been the informal ‘face’ of Unitec and its ability in becoming the actual public face of Unitec, could hold potential for the rest of the campus. Historically, Building One was once the entrance to the original hospital grounds, the orientation was purposely altered, to face Point Chevalier. This strengthened Building One’s connection to Point Chevalier, however this link has been severed by the construction of the North Western Motorway. This project seeks to enhance the old connection and engage the Pt Chevalier business centre as part of Unitec’s over all campus development strategy.
Central spine campus Mike Rogan
This design strategy preserves the ‘park-like’ character of Unitec by keeping the green space in the middle of the campus. The strategy recognises the unique and diverse landscape that makes up the campus including, springs, lava flows, midden sites, streams, ridge lines, sport and recreational areas.Three developments are proposed; The 24-hour campus: this strategy would create a village-styled layout. Carrington Road would accommodate cafes, restaurants, convenience stores and light shopping areas. Better public spaces, better public transport infrastructure and better public services would make Unitec a lively urban centre. Research University: a research park is proposed on the south western side of the campus to create a research and business centre for small to large companies onsite. Unitec has the potential to create more employment and revenue, which would generate a closer relationship with the real world. Connection to SH20: with the proposed construction of SH20, a great opportunity for Unitec to plug into Auckland’s transport infrastructure is presented. A dedicated off-ramp from SH20 would provide Unitec with a direct link to Auckland International Airport. This is a great opportunity to an open up the Oakley Creek side of the campus and would intensify development.
apartments
new roads
buildings
How can Unitec increase density?
Intensify the campus Ben Clarke
By building student housing for all first year students Unitec will become a 24hour campus. As Unitec has 10,000 full time students this would involve the building of roughly 2,500 to 3,000 new rooms. Case studies, included Harvard and Otago Universities, confirm the viability of students living on campus or close by. This new student accommodation has the effect of making Unitec more profitable, as private developers who could construct buildings and facilities and run them as a business could do the work. This is what happens in many American universities. In order to support the increase in population and retain the money that the students are spending, two centres of mixed-use development could be developed. These could include food courts, bookstores, copy centres, video rentals and other amenities that will supplement the Point Chevalier shops. slope
open space
aspect + open space
The campus site is maximised by constructing new buildings around the existing hub. Increasing the floor space by making the buildings up to 5 stories high as in Otago and Auckland University helps attain the 35% land coverage that Unitec is allowed. This would help accommodate an increase in student numbers for Unitec.
The effect of this proposal will be to change the existing landscape significantly, from the current sprawling campus of 2 story buildings in open spaces, to a high-density campus of large buildings.
existing hubs
potential hubs
S
Trans disciplinary campus Marc Vale Could Unitec break the traditional schools of a University and become a trans-discipline faculty? This would give opportunities for students to rub shoulders with other students, lecturers and professionals of other disciplines. This design proposal takes Unitec’s new macro structure that combines all the academic schools into three faculties. The current schools are scattered throughout the campus, it is too large to walk from class to class in this new structure. The project identifying the three main social hubs of Unitec; Building One, the student centre, and the sports fields, before turning the three faculties into three villages. These villages would provide accommodation, social interaction, retail shops and class facilities for the students. This would give the students and staff to not only a chance to interact in class, but also living and socialising together on a 24-hour basis. Future Campus research suggests that classroom activities and lectures could happening in social places, providing plenty of cafes and bars that the students would be comfortable in while studying would in turn help them learn and understand more. Another part of the village could provide more open space to give the students and staff another alternative learning space.
hub radiation
radial allocation
ideal allocations
topography
connectivity
building layout
retired areas
linear + nodal spaces
Through link Rose Goodwin
The aim of this project is to increase the density of Unitec facilities and combine them with commercial developments to increase revenue. Increasing building density along Carrington Road provides opportunities for commercial development along an important route, while increasing awareness of Unitec’s facilities to the extended community. Great North Road is a major vehicular route that skirts the boundary of Unitec on the north-western edge. By creating a through-road that connects Great North Road to Carrington Road using Unitec’s Entrance Three and a bridge over Oakley Creek, the campus is opened up to the extended landscape. This creates better vehicular and pedestrian access and circulation throughout the campus, while providing opportunities for a transport hub within Unitec that could utilise bus services that originally bypassed Unitec on Great North Road. A light rail system is proposed along Carrington and Pt Chevalier Road, to link Mt Albert shops and train station with Unitec, Pt Chevalier and houses along Pt Chevalier Road and Carrington Road. This will help increase Unitec’s walking catchment - those people within walking distance of Unitec that may use the educational and commercial facilities.
transportation
problems
answers
Unitec water campus Natalie Mardell
Unitec is a suburban campus situated within the Oakley Creek catchment. There are/is an abundance of water features within the Unitec grounds. These include the source of a natural spring, manmade storm water treatment ponds and Oakley Creek on the western boundary. These features form a natural spine through the campus. However, they currently have little presence in how the campus is used. This project utilises the site’s existing hydrological pathways as a framework for social movement and activity.
private land
steep slopes
flow
La Trobe
Otago
Cambridge
Oxford
Harvard
Unitec
Many universities are situated on water bodies. This project investigated how such campuses, Cambridge and Oxford, Harvard, La Trobe, and Otago relate to water. Analysis of how these universities use water bodies, lakes and rivers to generate social activity was a crucial step in the design process. The project proposes to improve the visual and physical interaction of water with a new campus development with the site. This has been anticipated through the construction of small lakes along existing ephemeral streams, numerous bridges crossing water and connecting a comprehensive pathway system, waterways that direct movement through potential new buildings, and a change in how the existing buildings interface with water. This project suggests that Unitec has a strong potential to become an expanded campus set around a dynamic water framework.
Grid City Andrew Mason This development concept will allow the preservation of the established landscape character of Unitec through a densification of facilities in the campus core. New building footprints will be contained within the existing fabric, providing versatility for future growth. The northern end of the campus, including Building One and its environs, are to be leased or sold, primarily to generate revenue required to fund the expansion of academic departments, but also to constrain the campus within a more compact and legible structure, oriented around the central wetland basin and associated valley. Together with an improved pedestrian and cycle network, this will emphasise crosscampus visibility and encourage greater circulation. A new feature building at Gate 3 will become the administrative center for Unitec and create a landmark on Carrington road. A broad, open plaza will draw visitors towards the spectacular panoramic view beyond the campus, and into the beautifully landscaped park grounds of the central campus. The western margin of Unitec, adjacent to Oakley Creek, will house a portion of the burgeoning student population in purpose built flats and halls of residence, conveniently located near the new student village, and providing a quiet, sheltered, parklike atmosphere. New student amenities will be concentrated in a relocated ‘Hub’ or village, where Student Services are currently located. Combined with an adjacent performance venue, Unitec Marae, Carringtons pub, and an expanded Sport and Fitness Center, Unitec will be able to offer a complete, world-class student life experience.
New hub Ryan Hodgson
A new strategy for the development of the Unitec campus allows the public to enter the campus via a link road from Carrington Road through to Great North Road. This not only helps to relieve the pressure on Carrington Road but also opens up the possibility of the location of business inside the campus. By building apartments along the edge of Oakley Creek, the local population and the commuters will be able to engage in a new centre located at the intersection of the new link road and the main Unitec service road. The creek-side apartments and hostels are a mixture of student and local accommodation, helping to bring a more public feel to Unitec. Carrington Road has been altered to allow views into the Unitec campus. The park will advertise the entrance of Unitec to the public and allows views across to the Waitamata Harbour. Further along Carrington Road a commercial area is proposed, this would help enhance Unitec as a public campus. The result of Unitec becoming an open campus would allows the institute to engage with the public, open up opportunities for a 24/7 campus and increase revenue.
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How can Unitec generate more revenue?
Twin campus intensification Jessica James
The Unitec campus currently operates as two separate sub-campuses with very few students travelling between them, other than for using resources like the bank, copy centre or student union. The proposed development strategy exaggerated the separation by removing some of the buildings in the centre of the campus to intensify the two end campuses. This separation allowed for the incorporation of a park in the centre, which would opens the campus up to the public and increases its prominence. The intensification of the two campuses required the infilling of the current spaces between the existing buildings and the incorporation of a number of new buildings; student accommodation, commercial floor space, and entertainment, such as restaurants/bars, theatres, and indoor arenas. The northern end, around Building One is named the Design Campus. The proposed buildings are 3-4 stories high in order to gain the desired intensification. At the southern end of the campus, the new buildings are large warehouse types, built to accommodate trade training needs. The tight spaces at both ends of the campus helps to exaggerate the openness of the park.
Unitec Research Park
Jeff White
Why would a firm join the Unitec research park? Transport - handy to both the rail network and motorway, close to the CBD, port and with proposed motorway, the airport. Park-like feel - lots of open space with views over Oakley Creek Modern facilities Lively student buzz Direct access to the park whilst still being in Unitec grounds What type of research will be encouraged? Research that will marry in with Unitec’s under graduate and postgraduate programs including: yacht design, industrial design, medical imaging, automotive engineering,
electrical engineering, information technology, start-ups (business innovation) What are the benefits for Unitec? Rental income ($5mil + per annum) Benefits from copyrights and patents Create a ‘name’ for Unitec, both locally and internationally Create a ‘critical mass’ of like minded thinkers - helping both students and Research Park staff Educational buildings are grouped allowing freer transition between buildings and faculties.
Sports campus James Walker
The aim of turning Unitec into a sporting institute was to generate revenue and increase student numbers. By transforming the current Blues training field into a sports stadium that could seat up to 10,000 people, a new rugby centre could be established. To make the sports stadium and the Unitec Sports Academy viable, the current sporting facilities within the campus will be upgraded. Student numbers in Unitec will increase, providing more accommodation and increasing the recognition of Unitec as a leading sporting facility. The investigation began by including a wider area study of the Mt Albert region. Surrounding sporting facilities, public transport, and ecological networks were considered to gain an understating of how Unitec fits into its wider context. The information found on the regional level was applied to the Unitec campus itself. GIS analysis helped show how these different modes of investigation could be incorporated into a design strategy for Unitec. GIS analysis helped to decide the best positions for the different sports zones . These areas included; sporting facilities and accommodation, academic facilities and accommodation, ecological links, and public transport links. The finished proposal encompasses a sporting world inside the campus, with ease of access to public transport and the proposed stadium. The academic world integrates with the sporting facilities - a multi disciplinary university campus is created.
Problem: $11,035,716.09+ spent each year Answer : Unitec Eco Campus Christopher George
Unitec runs a very high overhead expenditure. This is due in part to Unitec’s dependence on external sources for its everyday maintenance and growth. Currently Unitec harnesses very little of the freely available “eco-services”. If Unitec went “off the grid”, it is possible that it could save 90+% of its current outgoings, putting an extra $10,000,000 in the coffers every year. Remarkably, Unitec uses only 10% of the current building cover allowance and this footprint is in use for only 44% of the year. If development were to be increased to 30% then overheads would reach $30,000,000. More students would mean more traffic on Carrington Rd, not to mention the funds required for new buildings and fittings. Does Unitec need to develop right now? It is easy to build, but it is harder to retrofit or remove. The answer is; - Reduce overheads: Renewables, Reuse, Recycle. - Go off the grid, and save $10,000,000 a year that is earmarked for the general running of Unitec. - Make better use of the existing; i.e. Research pool, new innovations by students & tutors. Unitec designs, Unitec makes, builds and Unitec installs, Unitec and its students both win, $, installations and recognition. - Create a beneficial intellectual &/or copyright policy that benefits all. - Go commercial: i.e. Long Black Café, art, jewellery, product design, manufacture: i.e. housing - Pilot an Australasian/Pacific/NZ eco-campus programme
n Road
to Carring
How can Unitec have an increased presence on Carrington Road?
Four phase development Chris Hinton
Phase 1: Improve the Carrington Road frontage. Renewing and improving building stock and generating gravitas and a ‘spirit of place’ for the Unitec brand. Build a new School of Architecture Phase 2: A new entrance to be formed from New North Road; bridging Oakley Creek and giving Unitec an important gateway on the west side of the campus. This new gate will allow buses to enter the campus, delivering students and public directly to the heart of the campus. To allow buses to pass through the campus the internal road will be realigned to eliminate bottlenecks. Phase 3: Reorganize car parking; car park provision is adequate, however modular car parks will be developed with good tree cover and hydrological neutrality. Phase 4: A new hub area. It must be more stylish and enticing than the existing facility and it must attract visitors from outside the campus. A bus route will pass this complex but there will also be considerable car parking.
Car park campus
Nick Ison
Many students find the transport infrastructure of the Unitec campus frustrating; car parking, pathway networks, access to the campus, the shuttle system and the bus system are all daily problems for many students. This project proposed a single remedy for this issue; remove all the parking within the Unitec site, and move it into 6 multi level parking buildings on the roads on either side of Unitec, Carrington Road and Great North Road. No cars would be allowed on site except for shuttle buses. Pathway systems would be created to connect all the parking buildings to all the areas that need to be accessed, and shuttle stops will be set up next to parking buildings. Congestion in Carrington Road would be reduced because of the new access from the western side of Unitec. In the areas where the parking has been removed, buildings could be added, such as new student accommodation. Opportunities may arise with businesses wanting to lease a building within the Unitec campus to make use of applied research knowledge and to work with students within the same profession. This could be mutually beneficial to the students and business.
How can Unitec become a community asset?
The green heart Jeremy Parlane
The new Unitec campus should develop around the existing central public open space, the Blues training fields and the stormwater ponds, to make this the ‘Heart of Unitec’. This will be where campus life exists outside of the classroom. The central park will be enclosed by retail shopping, food courts, bars, cafes, a student bookstore, a student store & ATMs. These facilities will provide for a lively edge with both students and the public using the facilities. Academic facilities can develop around these areas, further enclosing the central park. Student housing will be located on the outskirts of the central park. In order to have students always on campus and using the facilities, a student housing development will be staged in three stages, in order to expand as is needed. The area made available will be able to accommodate up to 3500 students based on a 4 storey apartment housing footprint. If Unitec is to grow to 15,000 full time students it will have the potential to house 1:4 students. With the increased number of students on campus other facilities such as a health centre, counseling centre, student hall, art gallery and a new public library will be added.
Campus Connectivity Trish Tauerere
There is no connection from one side of the Unitec campus to the other, the buildings are scattered and the busiest places are on opposite ends of the campus. The open spaces are too big and most of these spaces are in the middle of the campus. Linking the buildings from one side of the campus to the other with a green space network will provide a connection through the Campus. This strategy will allow Unitec to develop the larger green spaces whilst creating a new network that will be more accessible and will be used more effectively. Using this network, clear links from one building to the other could provide students with 24 hour access. Sport Facilities: As the Blues already train at the Unitec campus, it makes sense to incorporate more sport facilities for sports professionals, public and Unitec students. By providing more sport facilities, such as a gym and indoor sports, much of the larger unused green spaces at Unitec can developed; these facilities can branch into more community facilities such as a spa which is commonly used by athletes and would be used by the public and Unitec students. By creating unique attractions such as a Spa within the lush Oakley Creek bush settings, a commercial facility will result, attracting business from people throughout Auckland and surrounding regions. This will create regional awareness of Unitec as a Educational Campus, and provide a revenue source.
The Unitec tram Joseph McCready
The aim of this project was to blur Unitec’s current private boundaries with the public domain in order to make Unitec connect to the surrounding community. Two discreet entities, the community and Unitec are melded together. By opening the campus up to both the local community and the larger Auckland public, Unitec can not only share a magnificent 55 hectare inner city park but can also start to provide many facilities both private and public for the community.
After identifying local community social centres such as the Pt Chevalier and Mt Albert shops, local sports fields and the Auckland Zoo, the objective of the project was to link those areas and to incorporate Unitec as part of a chain of public space. A tramline that ran through Unitec and extending out into the community was used as a way of connecting these popular events. By focusing on the proposed tram stops inside the Unitec campus, new accommodation, shopping, retail and office developments could be planned. The two entry moments, at Gate Three and Building One could also be emphasised and made into intensified urban experience that and genuinely welcoming to the community.
How can Unitec become a 24/7 campus?
small Charlotte Heibner
The concentration of a number of important natural and archaeological features on the southern end of the site combined with the fact that this is the area that has received the most attention financially, led to the idea that the northern part of the property should be sold. This will create the funds to get any development underway, a point stressed by the client.
The visibility of the Unitec brand is another issue that is dealt with by the proposed Carrington Road interface. The buildings bordering Carrington Road have been removed and the vegetation along the street is sparse. Combined with some minor earthworks the aim was to achieve a view from the road to a larger wetland/lake with the buildings as a backdrop. Inspired by Western Springs Park, this arrangement is intended to get people into the site.
New buildings will be built at high density in a grid-type layout around important site features. This is intended to assist navigation around the site. On-site student accommodation, car parking, arts and design will be located close to the marae. With shows and exhibitions to increase public interaction, combined with student living in close proximity, this will contribute to the liveliness of the Unitec campus.
Student accomodation Will Francis
Focusing on a highly successful New Zealand example, the University of Otago, the use of student accommodation as a way of increasing both student numbers and a 24/7 life on campus was investigated. The University of Otago is well known for its quality education and desirable student life. Otago’s student life is generated from the fact that of its 20,000 students, 14,500 students stay within housed/flats or halls near the University. These students create a student community, that generates an enjoyable student lifestyle. By creating a large student village, this will reduce the dependency on transport and create another income for Unitec. The area between Oakley Creek and Unitec’s western road seems to be the most suitable, as students are within close proximity of classes, but are still semi-separated. Around 3,000 students could live in this area. If students are to live on campus, they will be looking for somewhere to socialise, currently they need to travel to Auckland City or Parnell. Unitec could build a social area incorporating food and bars. This will mean students can stay on campus and Unitec will gain another income stream. The area overlooking over the marae and stormwater pond area seems ideal for this activity.