Site
Nicole Daw 5690784
Contents Potential of a Wasted Site
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Throughfare verse Destination The Edge
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Pollution 11 Connection With Water
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Waters Significance
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Reclaimed Land
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Nature verse Artifical 19 Transformation 21 Experience 23
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Potential of a Wasted Site Bayswater Marina, formerly known as O’Neills point, is a reclaimed piece of land that juts out into Aucklands Waitemata harbor. The site is very exposed to environmental conditions, making for a cold windy place; it is in need of some degree of shelter for its occupants. However Bayswater marina is positioned in the quietest, calmest part of Waitemata harbor, which when coupled with the winds, makes it a perfect place for recreational activities such as sailing and kite surfing. Thus Bayswater has the potential to be a main recreational hub, which Waitemata harbor is currently lacking. In addition to benefiting the locals, this would be point of attraction to tourists around the CBD, better showcasing and making the essence of New Zealands landscape and lifestyle more accessible.
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Bayswater
Devonport
Waitemata Harbour
Wynnyard Quarter
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Throughfare verse Destination Currently Bayswater Marina is a transient through fare, not a sought after destination. It is such a beautiful, dynamic site yet people are not inclined to stay there. It has simply become a space that functions as a means of transitioning between modes of transport. People want to get to their desitination, which currently is not Bayswater, quickly and efficiently, losing the value of the journey and experience of residing in the liminal in-between. The underlying issue here is the mundane functionality of Bayswater Marina, which is predominantly parking and storage; it does not make it a delightful or engaging place to be thus locals are not drawn out of their cars or visitors to the site. However walking around the perimeter of the site is like a cinematic promenade; padestrians are confronted by a series of unfolding different views, spaces and conditions, which cannot be experienced by directly traversing the site in a car. The site begs for something unexpected or out of the ordinary to create a sense of experience that makes it worthwhile for people to go out of their way to be and linger there.
Padestrain rout
Suburban housing
Open green space
Road
Car park
Existing Buildings
Boat ramp and jetti/peirs
Boat Storage
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Reclaimed Land Bayswater marina is a reclaimed piece of land, a place that seems natural but is in fact formed from a sequence of unnatural processes. A catalouge of natural elements were removed from their original place and reconstituted much like an act of subtraction, rearrangement and addition. The seabed was dredged to form the new land and local volcanic cones were demolished to obtain rock to fabricate Bayswater Marina shoreline. Due to this artificial reconstruction of nature, Bayswater marina is classified as state of in-between where ambiguously it is not completely fake nor is it completely natural.
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The Edge All costal sites have a fundamental edge condition. This is the meeting of the land and water, which due to the moving nature of water means the edge around is not fixed. At this point of assembly and change there is a threshold of multiple relationships between overlapping different conditions, activities, communities, environment, biodiversity and so forth. The juxtaposition and transition between the different spheres that the edge entails establishes an important link and interaction between the visitor and their surroundings. A change in an individuals actions is inherent and since the edge condition is largely ambiguous, it is approachable in various ways thus forcing individuals to actively construct their own meaning, and relationship. Architecture that embraces edge conditions prioritizes the principles of connection and relationships.Â
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Connection With Water Uncharacteristically, for a nation who prides itself on its relationship with water, the waters edge at Bayswater Marina is greatly disconnected, largely inaccessible and unsafe. Adversely this restricts and impedes people’s ability, and the demographic of people visiting the site, to freely act, utilize and move around the site thus negatively impacting on the sense of experience and desirability of being at the Marina. Some activities associated with the coast that were clearly not occurring included swimming, stopping to observe the beauty and picnicking. Granted this site visit was conducted in winter, so these probably would not be occurring at most places anyway, it seemed as though the sight and its parts were composed in such a way that would hinder these activities occuring at all.
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Pollution The foundation of New Zealands desirability is its natural beauty. This is under serious threat at Bayswater marina as environmental degradation is occurring. Toxins and petrochemicals runoff the marinas impermeable asphalt surfaces into the bay. Furthermore tubular activity from the 430 Yatchs that frequent the bay is greatly disturbing the aquatic environment, its organisms and the seabed causing siltation, and subsequent maintenance related dredging. This is evident in the silt that has been deposited on the shoreline. If the site is to continue to use the water for recreation and as a source of food, its imperative that consideration is given to the ecosystem and wildlife that co exists at site as they play major part in keeping the environment healthy and clean. Part of the attraction at Bayswater should not just be the activities but the environment as well.
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Nature verse Artifical
The built elements at Bayswater Marina are in constant conflict with the natural environment. Humans have a desirability to be the masters of their surroundings, altering them to suit their wants and needs. However as opposed to the typical parasitic nature of the built environment on the landscape, Bayswater marina has a much more integrated and mutual relationship. Mother nature fights back degrading, deforming and reappropriating it, trying to feed and grow off the manmade wherever possible. For example the piles that extend into the depths of the water become synthetic hosts on which aquatic life grow. These still achieve the purpose intended by humans but become more of a multipurpose living machine that are not indifferent to smaller scales as opposed to an monofunctional inanimate object or infrastructure. As a result the productive coastline emerges, rather than just being a place of human consumption.
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Waters Significance Water has great significance in New Zealands history, culture and spirituality. The sea feeds us, facilitates transportation, transactions and entertains us. Maori associate water with the essence of life, unity and regard it as a treasure and themselves as its guardian. They also use it for ceremonial purposes. Furthermore an additional value of water, which is more universally shared, is its ability to elicit spirituality and contemplation through its reflective, calm, soothing qualities and sounds.
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Experience The cyclic, temporal, oscillating motion of waves, water based vessels and associated sounds at the site is memorizing and immersive. The site itself becomes a performance of sorts and source of entertainment. The enroaching and retreating tide reveals and hides the unknown of the seas depths, which is uncommon to most people’s daily experience, stimulating the an innate curiosity and explorer inside of people. Individuals then become an active participant that engage in their surroundings. They create their own pleasurable forms of recreation, discovering and using locations as they please. As Bayswater is such a dynamic site, visitors are open to endless variations of use.
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Transformation The site is in a constant state of flux. The water, wind and saline environment relentlessly shapes, changes, transforms and shifts elements of the site. Through their natural behavior, these elements have become devices that render locally a unique place and experience that is distinctive to Bayswater marina. Furthermore due to the temporal nature of the devices the site is unique to the point in time at which it is experienced. In this sense the site will always be slightly different, yet still true to its local context, making for a forever interesting place to return to. Dually human occupation is also eroding the site.
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