9 SQUARE, MARKET PIER Rethinking Heritage in the New Zealand Regional Landscape KAPITI, NZ

from Rachel Murray Portfolio 2023

GÄVLE'S DELTA

Master of Architecture [Prof] Thesis. Victoria University of Wellington.

New Zealand Institute of Architects Student Design Awards Finalist 2015

Published in ‘Interstices’ Journal of Architecture and Related Arts 17. 2016

In just a century and a half, we have destroyed 90% of New Zealand's fragile lowland wetlands. Drained and cleared, indigenous swamp forests have been converted to carpets of farming pastures and low-density urban sprawl. Along the Kapiti Coast, a new major expressway presents further challenges: a segregated beach community, continued wetland eradication and projected growth in the wake of an improved connection to Wellington City. These problems are at once ecological and urban, presenting an opportunity for design-led research to explore the potential for alternative urban settlement strategies in the regional landscape.

The design project identifies a squared-off suburban conservation wetland, transforming it into a new town square: a civic heart and symbol of the region's natural and cultural heritage. A market pier extends from the urban edge of the town square towards the central lagoon. The pier, upon which an open-air market is proposed, connects the new urban centre with the wider agricultural activity of Kapiti while reinstating the historic functions and cultural significance of the wetlands which indigenous Maori historically navigated by canoe in search of food and resources.

Nga Uruora: The Groves of Life - Geoff Park

An agricultural hinterland

A WETLAND SQUARE:

The edge of a remnant lagoon is transformed into a new Market Square: a framework for medium-density housing and the civic heart of the region’s natural heritage.

A MARKET PIER:

The wetland square plays host to a 'market pier', which transforms into a Farmer’s Market, connecting the new urban centre to Kapiti’s wider agricultural network. The market pier reinstates the historic significance of the wetlands from which indigenous Maori once sourced food and resources.

A Regional Wetland Network

Together, the Market Square and Wetland Pier operated as an archetype, responding to other ‘grid-locked’ remnant wetlands - a system for wetland-orientated urban intensification and the restoration of a regional wetland network.

The research rethinks land conservation practice in New Zealand's settled regional landscapes. It advocates that conservation efforts should expand beyond current land protection measures to also consider preserving the historic relationship between early settlers and natural systems.

The thesis stresses architecture's responsibility to reconcile urban and ecological systems, with emphasis on celebrating the rich social and cultural heritage associated with New Zealand's natural heritage to ensure environmental and community resilience in the regional landscape.