Nothing Gold Can Stay: Wellington Thermal Baths (Mini Thesis) by Stacey Mountfort

NOTHING GOLD CAN STAY

Stacey Mountfort

“Nothing Gold Can Stay”

Nature’s first green is gold, Her hardest hue to hold. Her early leaf’s a flower; But only so an hour. Then leaf subsides to leaf, So Eden sank to grief, So dawn goes down to day Nothing gold can stay. — Robert Frost

Preface: The poem “Nothing Gold Can Stay” by Robert Frost speaks of Gold metaphorically as anything in life that is ‘perfect’ and happy, like the Garden of Eden, a spring day, or a beautiful sunrise. It could be seen as a feeling of contentedness, or a notion of things new and wonderful. The title is used in the final line of the poem and reminds us of the only other mention of gold in this poem, which is in the first line. The line neatly wraps up all the metaphors of early spring leaves and flowers, the Garden of Eden, and dawn which are all gold, yet none of them can stay for very long in this world. Flowers “subside” to become green leaves, people become corrupt, and the delicate dawn light becomes bright boring light of the day. These ideas evoke an architectural problem of time and the erosion or change of the build world within a vulnerable and temporal environment. However the built environment can celebrate this notion of time and erosion through a narrative architecture that encapsulates an essence of time, movement, change, fracture, and journey. By highlighting the presence of our temporal environment through an architectural design, the sublime becomes even more beautiful in contrast to this. There is a knowing that this ‘Gold’ will come again. The poem also suggests this in saying “dawn goes down to day”, where the reader understands that dawn is at the beginning of the day —even though Frost alludes to sunset— and it will indeed come to fruition again.

Figure.1 Title Page

iii

CONTENTS

ABSTRACT

vii

INTRO

viii

SITE ANALYSIS

Primary Site conditions

Site Plan, Aerial view

Site conditions

Te Kopahou Reserve

Site Material conditions

Maori Legends

NARRATIVE OPPORTUNITY

Located Intervention in Site / Concepts

PROGRAMME ANALYSIS/

Chosen Programme

programme Relevancy

Case study 1

Case Study 2

Pool temperatures

Relative Programme and scale

PRECEDENTS STUDY

Loci pathways

Repitition and fade

Movement through repetition

Interweave: Grid—Object, His—Her, Stabe—Fragile, Pause—Transition

Slice/Intersect

LITERATURE REVIEW

Narrative Architecture, Nigel Coates

Architecture & the Productive Implications of Pause 59

PRELIMINARY CONCEPT

PRELIMINARY DESIGN

Design critique and evaluation

FINAL DESIGN //

Plans

Conclusion

107

REFERENCES

108

Figure Bibliography

108

Works Cited

110

Declaration Form

111

Figure.2 Contour Map of Site with Focal Lines

ABSTRACT// Problem Statement:

Aims:

We live in a world that searches for a condition of ‘perfect’ — a perfect image, a perfect landscape, a perfect place, a perfect life. We search for that which is beautiful, satisfying, and complete; these notions of divinity cannot exist in a disintegrating and ever-shifting world. There remains a temporality of our existence, and the existence of things.

The principal aim of the investigation is to create an architectural intervention that presents both a threshold and an experiential journey for explorers – one that embraces the quarry site and hiking track above. This is a place that suggests it was once a rectilinear form, but the dynamics of time and intrusions in the land have shifted and fragmented its form. Primarily the journey should indicate a metaphor of a tension between the horizontal and the vertical — the temporal and the eternal.

Objectives: The main objective is to develop a form that suggests a sense of horizontality through delicately ascending levels that interweave through the fragments of dominant and grounded verticals; this suggesting a conversation of the ephemeral with the perpetual. The floating horizontals will be integrated with the circulation as the narrative journey up the building. These planes also form the catchments for thermal pools which create the horizon lines within the intervention. They evoke the idea of the eternal or sublime as the inhabitants’ own pool horizon merges with the view of the ocean’s horizon. It looks beyond to the South Island, proposing a divine land in the distance.

vii

01 INTRO//

Problem Statement:

Site:

We live in a world that searches for a condition of ‘perfect’ — a perfect image, a perfect landscape, a perfect place, a perfect life. We search for that which is beautiful, satisfying, and complete; these notions of divinity cannot exist in a disintegrating and evershifting world. There remains a temporality of our existence, and the existence of things.

Owhiro Bay Quarry, South Coast Wellington New Zealand

The built environment can celebrate this notion of time and erosion through a narrative architecture that encapsulates an essence of time, movement, change, fracture, and journey. The narrative can also evoke a glimpse of divinity beyond this temporal world in a reflection of beauty, or the sublime within its enduring realities. The Owhiro Bay Quarry site is appropriate to address this issue because the land itself is a dramatic scar upon a rugged and aging landscape. It provides opportunity to integrate a form or series of interventions that suggests a disturbance in the purity of the scape that has left a fragmentation in the strata of the cliff. The coastal site also allows the combination of water and the horizon line to contrast against the rugged vertical terrain. This horizon plane is reflected in the strata of the rock and levels of the quarry cut away from the rock face. This combination of juxtaposition and reflection of the ‘pure’ horizon against the shifting planes helps to address the notions of temporality and eternity discussed above. Aims: The principal aim of the investigation is to create an architectural intervention that presents both a threshold and an experiential journey for explorers – one that embraces the quarry site and hiking track above. This is a place that suggests it was once a rectilinear form, but the dynamics of time and intrusions in the land have shifted and fragmented its form. Primarily the journey should indicate a metaphor of a tension between the horizonal and the vertical — the temporal and the eternal. Objectives: The main objective is to develop a form that suggests a sense of horizontality through delicately ascending levels that interweave through the fragments of dominant and grounded verticals; this suggesting a conversation of the ephemeral with the perpetual. The floating horizontals will be integrated with the circulation as the narrative journey up the building. These planes also form the catchments for thermal pools which create the horizon lines within the intervention. They evoke the idea of the eternal or sublime as the inhabitants’ own pool horizon merges with the view of the ocean’s horizon. It looks beyond to the South Island, proposing a divine land in the distance.

Methodologies:

1. In order for the design to suggest a dynamic

relationship to the landscape, or more specifically the notioin of fragmentation and terracing, the following investigations are made in precedent and literature studies which include these subjects:

-Loci pathways -Repitition and fade of form to sujest movement, time and dynamics. -Movement through repetition -Interweave: Grid—Object, His—Her, Stabe—Fragile, Pause—transition -Slice/Intersect -Narrative Architecture

2. In attempt to create a

phenomenological architecture —spaces with a notion of ‘essence’ or ‘experience’— which evoke the ideas of the eternal and sublime VS temporal and everchanging these topics were investigated:

-Objectified compared with subjectified user experience in the differing pause moments and transitional moments. -Materiality and Spacial Composition -Vertical (Grounded and representative of the perpetual) juxtaposed or integrated with the Horizontal (Floating and representative of the eternal)

3. The desire to create an archiectural journey oulined in the aims case studies were studied in these areas:

-Narrative Architecture -Loci pathways

02 SITE ANALYSIS //

Figure 3. Owhiro Bay Top of the Terraces Drone Photo

1 Shrubby Hills

2 Rock Terraces

3 Coast

PRIMARY SITE CONDITIONS //

SITE PLAN, AERIAL VIEW Figure 4. Owhiro Bay Quarry // Wellingtonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Te Kopahou Nature Reserve 5

SITE CONDITIONS //

Wellington Average Rainfall (mm)

Figure 5.<No data from link>

Wellington Average Temperature (Â°C)

Figure 6.<No data from link> Note: The data for charts above are taken from year 2000 to 2012

N 45˚N

45˚N

Figure 7.Site Analysis: Focal lines

Figure 8. New Zealand Weather Data 8

TE KOPAHOU RESERVE //

Figure 9. Te Kopahou Reserve Track Map

SITE MATERIAL CONDITIONS //

Figure 10. Owhiro Bay — Site Colour Sample Analysis

Figure 11. Site Material Findings

MAORI LEGENDS // This is also a site of Maori legends including Kupe and the chase of the giant Wheke (octopus) which formed the South Island The great battle between Kupe, his warriors, and the giant wheke (octopus) of Muturangi took place at the top of the South Island. Kupe’s children, wife, and other whanau members stayed at Te Whanganui-a-Tara (Wellington), to gather supplies and to keep safe from what Kupe knew would be a fierce sea battle. And dangerous it was. His huge ocean sailing vessel, Matahorua, was almost capsized, which would surely have been the end of Kupe and his crew. But Kupe’s quick thinking saved the day. By throwing calabashes into the sea to imitate bodies, he tricked the giant wheke. And when it emerged from the depths, Kupe leapt onto its head and struck the blow that ended its life. Arapaoa was the name given to that fatal blow, and that was the first name given to the South Island of Aotearoa. When Kupe returned to Te Whanganuia-Tara, he was met with great surprise and joy. His daughters were so sure that he had been defeated by the wheke that they had slashed their chests in mourning. So the rocks of that area were stained red with blood and are still known today as Pari Whero (Red Rocks). After resting at Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Kupe and his whanau set sail once more. Before they left, Kupe named the two islands in the harbour after his daughters – Matiu (Somes Island) and Makaro (Ward Island).

All of the stories invite interpretation that can help address the objectives of this design-led research investigation. This being to suggest a conversation of the ephemeral versus the perpetual elements of both architectural and site specific qualities. The scar in the land of the quarry has the notion of erosion and suggests where there may have been a fishing hook of Maui’s in the land. The building also has the opportunity to look beyond to the South Island, proposing a divine land in the distance which can be reflected back into the building architecturally through horizontal elements.

This is also a site of Maori legends including Kupe and the chase of the giant Wheke (octopus) which formed the South Island

Figure 12. Mapping of Kupeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Chase

Figure 13. Drawing of Kupe and the Giant Wheke Fight

Figure 14. Maui Fishes up the North Island (their waka being the South Island)

NARRATIVE OPPORTUNITY //

Figure 15. Narrative Opportunity Diagramatic Sketches

LOCATED INTERVENTION IN SITE // CONCEPTS

Figure 16. Exposed Cliff Scaffold —A play with horizontal and vertical levels to suggest a buried structure— Concept 2

05 PROGRAMME ANALYSIS//

CHOSEN PROGRAMME// 1. Thermal Baths/Massage Retreat 2. Reserve Hiking Track Egress

PROGRAMME RELEVANCY //

This article from the June 2016 Dominion Post Newspaper, provides evidence that this programme not only helps to address research objectives, but also fulfills a real need for thermal baths in Wellington. The main research objective is to develop a form that suggests a sense of horizontality through delicately ascending levels that interweave through the fragments of dominant and grounded verticals; this suggesting a conversation of the ephemeral with the perpetual. The floating horizontals will be integrated with the circulation as the narrative journey up the building. These planes can then form the ‘catchments’ for thermal pools which create the horizon lines within the intervention whilst strongly reinacts the water catchment in the nearby rockpools —responding to the site context. This programme therefore has the possiblity to evoke the idea of the eternal or sublime as the inhabitants’ own pool horizon merges with the view of the ocean’s horizon. It looks beyond to the South Island, proposing a divine land in the distance. Furthermore, the contrast of steamy water with hard, rough concrete compliements this objective by creating a haptic and sensul atmosphere. This in turn creates a phenomenological or experiential architecture that evokes the concept of the eternal and sublime versus the temporal and ever-changing environment,

The programme circulation for the site will be separated into two paths of circulation: One as the central private core circulation for pool access (See below left) and the other as an integrated, but more public and external circulation to pools and hiking track above. This is necessary for the mixed use of tramper and pool goers.

Figure 17. Private core circulation for pool access (Left) integrated with more public and external circulation to pools and hiking track above (used by trampers).

Figure 18. June 2016 Dominion Post Article on Proposed Thermal Baths on Wellington Waterfront

CASE STUDY 1 // NEW PARACELSUS SPA AND POOLS IN SALZBURG WINNING PROPOSAL / HMGB ARCHITECTS

Figure 19. HMGB Architectsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; proposal for the new Paracelsus Spa and Pools, Salzburg

In this case study the interior pools are assembled in a completely glazed vertical pool landscape that faces the park southwards so visitors feel as if they are taking baths inside the tree canopies (Archdaily). All pools are connected into a continuous, forking and re-connecting vertical landscape. Some of the pools have glazed openings in the bottom and sides to allow for more views in-side and outside. The whole pool landscape including pools, slide and circulation elements is cantilevered from a collective back wall (Archdaily). As a programme analysis, the relative floor areas are taken from the entrance level and mid level floor plans to understand the programme size and content necessary for the Owhiro bay thermal baths proposed. The floating levels and integrated circulation with activity space will be a successful quality in achieving a design that relates to the quarryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s sharp horizontal terraces, and the ocean outlook.

Figure 20. Ground Level and Mid Floor Level Plans â&#x20AC;&#x201D;Paracelsus Spa and Pools

CASE STUDY 2 // THERMAL VALS PETER ZUMTHOR Figure 21. Programme and Circulation Analysis of Therme Vals, Peter Zumthor

Entry Floor Entry

10m

Ground Floor

POOL TEMPERATURES///

Figure 22. Wet Area Analysis

Pool Temp C

10m

RELATIVE PROGRAMME AND SCALE // Outdoor Pool Space

Changing Rooms

250m2

150m2

Outdoor Resting Space 230m2

Sauna 150m2 Circulation/Voids 500m2

Resting Space 160m2

Internal Pool Space

Services

100m2

500m2

WC 50m2

Massage/Private Rooms

150m2

PRECEDENTS STUDY //

In order for the design to suggest a dynamic relationship to the landscape, or more specifically the notioin of fragmentation and terracing, the following investigations are made in precedent and literature studies which include these subjects:

In attempt to create a phenomenological architecture —spaces with a notion of ‘essence’ or ‘experience’— which evoke the ideas of the eternal and sublime VS temporal and ever-changing these topics were investigated:

-Loci pathways

-Objectified compared with subjectified user experience in the differing pause moments and transitional moments.

-Repitition and fade of form to sujest movement, time and dynamics. -Movement through repetition -Interweave: Grid—Object, His—Her, Stabe—Fragile, Pause—transition -Slice/Intersect

The desire to create an archiectural journey oulined in the aims case studies were studied in these areas:

-Narrative Architecture -Loci pathways

-Materiality and Spacial Composition -Vertical (Grounded and representative of the perpetual) juxtaposed or integrated with the Horizontal (Floating and representative of the eternal)

-Narrative Architecture

The Road Not Taken Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveller, long I stood And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth; Then took the other, as just as fair, And having perhaps the better claim, Because it was grassy and wanted wear; Though as for that the passing there Had worn them really about the same, And both that morning equally lay In leaves no step had trodden black. Oh, I kept the first for another day! Yet knowing how way leads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back. I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and Iâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; I took the one less travelled by, And that has made all the difference. â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Robert Frost

LOCI PATHWAYS ///

Figure 23.Mexico Design School Stairs

Figure 24. The Gate of Creation: Tadao Andoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Design School in Mexico

Figure 25. Ramp Integrated into Stairs: Robson Square â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Vancouver, Canada

Figure 26.Oscar Niemeyer - National Congress of Brazil building 1950â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s

REPITITION AND FADE //

Figure 27. Ardim Ipe School, SÃ£o Bernardo do Campo, Decio Tozzi , 1966. with hand sketches to highlight key moments

MOVEMENT THROUGH REPETITION //

34 Figure 28. Alex Hogrefe Performance Theatre Render. Edited: Black and White by Author.. Top Elevation

If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world —C.S Lewis, “Mere Christianity”

Hope ‘Hope’ is the thing with feathers— That perches in the soul— And sings the tune without the words— And never stops—at all— And sweetest—in the Gale—is heard— And sore must be the storm— That could abash the little Bird That kept so many warm— I’ve heard it in the chillest land— And on the strangest Sea— Yet, never, in Extremity, It asked a crumb—of Me —Emily Dickinson

Figure 29.

Figure 30.High Plane I - VI. Polystyrene, wood, steel. Photo: Matthew Septimus

High Plane I - VI Katrín Sigurdardóttir Studios 2001 - 2007 Polystyrene, wood, steel. Dimensions variable. In an artwork installation ‘High Plane’ by Katrín Sigurdardóttir Studios a utopian landscape rests above 2 ladders with 2 viewing holes (Sigurdardóttir). It evokes a “childlike fascination with fantasy and the utopian world” (Sigurdardóttir). The viewer climbs to reach this untouched landscape but is prevented from fully entering this world, and this utopia would otherwise be disturbed by human inhabitancy and no longer retain its purity. Thus, no longer a utopia just as Robert Frost says, nothing gold can stay. The idea that on this earth no matter how hard we try, we ourselves can not reach eternity and everything in this physical world decays. This concept of a utopian landscape links with the thermal baths design and its objective to heighten the glimpses of the sublime in a nostalgic manner to suggest the land was once too a utopian landscape. The idea Sigurdardottir that this land can not be reached through the limiting viewpoints inspires the use of water plans and horizontals in the thermal bath design to create an illusion or false sense of transcendence. The viewer is merging with the coastal horizon to become part of the eternal horizon line.

Figure 31. Small Villas | Via | 2004 LAD Design Studios

Rome-based architecture and design studio LAD has visualized ‘villa minimae’ (small villas) situated in natural landscapes (LAD). The collection of five isolated single-family homes have been developed and studied at a 1:200 scale. In all cases, the projects were conceived as appendices, detached from larger properties, but located in the immediate vicinity of those sites. Therefore, the dwellings never contain more than two bedrooms, and interior spaces are minimalist (LAD). Beyond direct functionality, the houses are realized as artefact or as machines for observing the surrounding panorama. The keyword ‘observing’ becomes important for the Owhiro bay site which faces the ocean landscape and the south island beyond. It becomes the ‘guardian’ of the North Island and could suggest this in its form.

Observation is also key from a personal experiential position, where spaces must frame certain ‘pause moments for the viewer as with the Small Villas. The artist questions the potential of the image as a whole, reconstructing its layers and possibilities of extension, through landscapes’ installations (LAD). This notion of extension of the landscape will help to resolve the objective to create a design that suggests a shift in the landscape and play with the extremes of ‘floating’ horizontals.

Figure 32. Observatoire VIII, Lambda Print on Baryta Paper, 150 x 120 cm, 2014 NoĂŠmie Goudal

Figure 33. Wirra Willa Pavilion, Matthew Woodward Architecture

Figure 34. Floating Levels

Figure 35. Convent De Sant Francesc David Closes

Entrance to the Rivers Pablo Neruda Beloved of the rivers,beset By azure water and transparent drops, Like a tree of veins your spectre Of dark goddess biting apples: And then awakening naked To be tattooed by the rivers, And in the wet heights your head Filled the world with new dew. Water rose to your waist, You are made of wellsprings And lakes shone on your forehead. From your sources of density you drew Water like vital tears And hauled the riverbeds to the sand Across the planetary night, Crossing rough, dilated stone, Breaking down on the way All the salt of geology, Cutting through forests of compact walls Dislodging the muscles of quartz.

Figure 36. River Dwelling, Sheri Fabian, 2011 graphite on vellum

I n t e r w e a v e : G r i d / O b j e c t _ _ H i s / H e r _ _ S t a b i l i t y / Fr a g i l i t y _ _ R o b u s t / D e l i c a t e _ _ C r i s p / D e c a y

Figure 38a. Moments along a grid and corresponding movement path

Figure 37. Noémie Goudal.In Search of the First Line I. Photograph.

Figure 38b. Father Daughter Figure 39.Gian Paolo Valenti, Architecture D’Aujourd’Hui.

Figure 41. Slice in the Land

Figure 40. Intersecting Grids and Planes

Figure 42. Toshio Shibata Photography

Figure 43.Toshio Shibata Photography

Once by the Pacific The shattered water made a misty din. Great waves looked over others coming in, And thought of doing something to the shore That water never did to land before. The clouds were low and hairy in the skies, Like locks blown forward in the gleam of eyes. You could not tell, and yet it looked as if The shore was lucky in being backed by cliff, The cliff in being backed by continent; It looked as if a night of dark intent Was coming, and not only a night, an age. Someone had better be prepared for rage. There would be more than ocean-water broken Before Godâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s last Put out the light was spoken. â&#x20AC;&#x201D;Robert Frost

The spa built in Fasano Las Piedras hospitality complex is a single-story concrete rectangular volume, where rooms are placed in the perimeter leaving an open indoor garden in the centre of the building, around which all circulations evolve. Serenity is to feel all around, through the choice of materials and filtered light that comes in through the windows open in the external concrete walls and skylights in the halls and rooms. This idea of Serenity is integral for the quality of space within a spa programme and the use of materials and form to suggest weight has a phenomenological impact on the occupant. This is important for achieving the objectives of the Owhiro bay baths design.

Figure 44. Fasano Las Piedras Hotel, Isay Weinfeld

Figure 45. Heavy/Light

‘Casa brutale’ is an statement of simplicity and harmony in contemporary architecture (OMA). The conceptual residence, by OPA, is a “chameleonic living space that teeters on the high cliffs above the Aegean sea” (OMA). It is a study of aesthetics, structure, function and engineering, drawing directly from adalberto libera’s Italian masterpiece casa malaparte; but rather than sitting above ground, it is wedged into the surrounding earth (OMA). The home is constructed with simple materials like wood, glass, and raw concrete, putting the focus on the context of the landscape and ocean. This concern for ‘pure’ materiality should be explored in the thermal bath design in order to achieve the objectives of the building to become a direct response to the scarred landscape, while alluding to the landscapes materiality of ocean, rock and sky. The protrusion through the land in the following precedents suggests the design to become an inhabitant of the fractured land that has protruded from its preexisting nature within the landscape —again celebrating the notion of time and change.

Figure 46. Casa Brutale House in a cliff OMA 2015 Figure 47. Leça Swimming Pools (1964) Leça da Palmeira, Portugal. Alvaro Siza

Figure 48. Slicing planes, Erosion

Figure 49. Cliff_Master Alex Hogrefe 2016

Figure 50. Minas Tirith, Capital of Gondor in the Third Age and the Fourth Age of Middle-earth.

07 LITERATURE REVIEW //

NARRATIVE ARCHITECTURE, NIGEL COATES

Narrative architecture relies on the ability to draw on the world around, to then simplify its complexities into a directive concept, in order to move into the imaginative (Coates). The initial analysis of the ‘world’ could encompass the physical, historical, cultural, spiritual or political contexts of the place (Coates). This material can be used as a means to design interventions that communicate a certain stance or position of these conditions. This could be fantasised to the extent where ideas are overstated in an imaginative way. However, the meaning of the architecture does not require the designer to have ‘written’ it. We have stories of our own and in this post-critical age of thinking, the architect has become more projective, rather than solely critical to represent the indexical. So rather, the authority of meaning is subject to the viewer. So rather than the narrative having an indexical meaning, it is instead a means to create an evocative architecture that demands a performance and therefore a response or interpretation by the user. Narrative can thus be used as a design tool to focus on evoking a certain architectural experience to the user, rather than attempting to express an intended ‘meaning’ of the architectural intervention since that is subject to the occupant. The intervention allows the possibility of interpretation, or performance, of inhabitation through the existence of a narrative architecture. In the thermal bath design, the narrative of shifting planes corresponds to the transformation of the land which intends to evoke the essence of both time, and the fall of a utopian landscape (See Fig. 52 below).

Figure 51. TWA Terminal at John F. Kennedy Airport (then Idlewild Airport), New York NY, Eero Saarinen, Architect

Figure 52. Preliminary Design Front Elevation Perspective

ARCHITECTURE AND THE PRODUCTIVE IMPLICATIONS OF PAUSE, DANIEL MERRITT

In this text Daniel Merrit talks about two thoughts in relation to to archiecture and the way people experience pause or transition, titled “The Subject” and “The Object”. The Subject: When travelling at speed like in a train, the foreground is blurred as it rushes past, whereas significant landmarks further in the distance can be recognized and form the catalogue of memories specific to that journey (Merritt). In a long slow journey, certain objects and spatial types are also lost in the repetitive monotony of their passing. They go unnoticed. Only exceptional or eccentric occurrences distinguish themselves. In this absence of reliable points of reference, movement at high speeds or over long periods, we perceive the illusionary stillness of our own body with regard to the gross movements of the landscape (Merritt). In turn, this displaces the experience of motion with the illusion of self-referential stillness in an autonomous and private space. It changes to a solitary and reflective experience. The Object: Conversely, when our movement stops, our senses link us to a stationary spatial framework (Merritt). In Stillness we become increasingly conscious of our relationship to other similarly still objects and develop an awareness of our own influence upon the particulars of the place (Merritt). This awareness means one more closely shares in the rate of activity or change of the surroundings. Thus while the mobile subject sustains a heightened awareness of independence during movement, the stationary subject, enjoys an awareness of the potential for involvement with the landscape. Both of these seem vital and complementary aspects of human experience and the ideas of the ‘Object’ and the ‘Subject’ can be applied in the thermal bath design in a way to create a narrative architecture that takes the occupant on a journey. This journey becomes dynamic through the integration of ‘pause’ moments (where the relationship between the architecture, landscape and occupant is activated) ¬ and the ‘transitional’ moments (where oneself becomes the subject within the narrative). This methodology allows more engagement with the architectural intervention as it slows or quickens the occupant, demanding a response, performance or creative exploration of the space. This in turn, assists the viewer in her or his interpretation of the spaces, and gives depth and relevance to the architectural design. It also manifests the phenomenological affect of the spaces, achieving the aim to suggest moments of a sublime atmosphere.

PRELIMINARY CONCEPT //

Figure 53.

62 Figure 54. Conceptual Diagrams: Converging focal grid lines & vertical central wedge intersected w/ floating levels

Figure 55. Site Plan: Conceptual Diagram

Figure 66. Preliminary Concept 1: Central vertical core with delicate horizontal levels or â&#x20AC;&#x153;terracesâ&#x20AC;?

Figure 67. Preliminary Concept 2: Integration of vertical & horizontal plane fractures. Pools as natural water catchments.

Figure 68. Concept Development: Iterative Sketches

Figure 69. Final Concept

PRELIMINARY DESIGN //

Figure 70. Site Plan

Figure 71. Front Entrance Perspective

Figure 72. View from Top of Hill

Figure 73. Sectional View

Figure 74. Ground and Top Level Floor Plans

DESIGN CRITIQUE AND EVALUATION //

Guy Marriage and Daniel K. Brown Review Feedback and personal evaluation: 1. My design is at a diagrammatic stage and in order for it to develop pragmatics must now be considered. The most fundamental areas to clarify are:

- Terraced pools and level pools: Depth, Access, Relationship to building and circulation

- The two paths: Differences in destination, circulation resolution, moments of destination along both paths

-User groups: Hikers and Swimmers. How to accommodate for both the people using the building as egress to the reserve track, versus those paying for the bathes â&#x20AC;&#x201C;this has a lot of opportunity to play, such as the observation of paths from different viewpoints that have limited access.

-Vertical ephemeral elements to become architectural elements. They lack purpose so may be removed from the concept. Otherwise if there is a beautiful reason why these are there this should be revealed/clarified.

2. Who are the Clients? Begin designing for the target audience/users 3. Fractured Grid

Make 3 Grids evident from above that people can make sense of:

The Western terraces have a relationship to the existing terraces The Central vertical elements align to face the south Island The Eastern grid aligning with the ? relates to central and terraces vertically and in plan.

4. Clearer communication of visual representation is needed. The reading of land versus ocean is important for context and placement of the design in the land. More detail and refinement will come with development of form. This preliminary stage has allowed a critique of the form to read as incohesive and a series of broad concepts amalgamated into one design, rather than a purity of form that reads as one body composed of multiple parts. 5. Pink and White Terraces Use the narrative of this precedent to strengthen and enrich my narrative about nothing worldly being eternal. It is a celebration of these lost treasures that are subject to time and decay. Through the designâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s allusion to the buried terraces (scientists believe there are remains under Lake Rotomahana after the Mt. Tarawera eruption in 1886 (GNS, n.p)) there is the notion of celebration to what was lost through this new, recontextualised form. Study the formal structure of these baths and their composition within their landscape which will allow a better integration of the current design with the land.

Figure 75. Preliminary Design Floor Plan: Showing pool terraces

Figure 76. The world famous Pink and White Terraces as painted by JC Hoyte in the 1870â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s prior to the eruption of Mount Tarawera. Image: Hocken Collections, University of Otago.

CORE DEVELOPMENT //

80 Figure 77. Core Development Sketches: Plans, Overlays and Perspective

10 FINAL DESIGN //

Figure 78. Entrance into Site from the East

Figure 78. Front Elevation Perspective (From the shoreline)

Ground Floor

First Floor

Second Floor

Figure 79. Final Design Plans

50m

Third Floor

Fourth Floor (Top) (Infinity pool)

Figure 80. 3/4 West High Angle Perspective: Viewing terrace baths 90

50m

KEY// 1

Entry Ramp

Outdoor Eastern Pools

Atrium Foyer

Outdoor Stairs to Pool levels Above

3 Main Stair/Internal Fire Stair and Glass 13 Steaming Room/ Mezzanine Resting Elevator Space 4

Locker Room and Storage

Disabled Unisex Toilet / Staff Toilet

Male Toilets

15 Female Changing Room/Lockers/ Showers

Female Toilets

External Fire Stair

8 Sauna

Office/Staff Room/Store

Terrace Pools

Staff Lunch room, Kitchen

Underbridge Pond

Massage Cubicals

Wet Services Wall (Entire height)

Figure 81. Programmatic Floor Plans

14 Male Changing Room/Lockers/ Showers

Figure 82. Core Perspective: Elevator and fire stair shaft to top infinity pool

Figure 83. Longitudinal Section

Figure 84. Transverse Section

Figure 85. Entrance Perspective

100 Figure 86. Terrace Pools Looking East

101

102 Figure 87. Fourth Floor Lane Pools Perspective (looking west)

103

Figure 88. Ground Floor Atrium Reception 104

Figure 89. Top Infity Pool Perspective

105

Figure 89. Site Plan 106

CONCLUSION//

The temporality of our existence, and the existence of things has been an important issue to resolve through this design investigation because in order to move past creating mundane architecture in order to ‘safe-guard’ itself within the changing conditions of its surrounding contexts, there must be an acceptance of this condition. Instead, the built environment can celebrate this notion of time and erosion through a narrative architecture that encapsulates an essence of time, movement, change, fracture, and journey.

It could be concluded that this investigation successfully impliments these qualities through the interweaving levels and terraces which act as horizon lines similar to the scarred quarry and the surrounding ocean plane. The careful articulation of these horizontals with the sharded core —or the designed landscape elements with Architectural elements— through their pure materiality and responding push, pulls, interesections, allignments, repitition and reflections combine to create a cohesive, evocative and experiential journey that enlivens the exisiting landscape. However, this design investigation is limited in its focus on the past and its implications to the present context of the site, rather than considering how the building and land may change or adapt for the future. Furthermore, the rarity of the site is a constraint on the application of these findings on other, more urban or less dramatic sites. However, the courageousness of the design within the dramtic quarry setting encourages the design of buildings in seemingly mundane settings to extract as much context and excitement from the site. This would therefore create dynamic, experiential and/or narrative designs which respond to the surrounding setting’s present conditions. Then as conditions change over time, the design can stand as an articulation of what had been before it, and evoke new responses in future designs of the neighbouring sites. Therefore, this study in future may advance, if extended beyond the original scope, to make iterative study of a cluster of adjacent buildings and their sites and design in a communicative way —so to fastforeward time and represent a changing environment and how within the context of each period the sublime, delight and beauty in design can be celebrated.

50m

107

FIGURE BIBLIOGRAPHY// Fig. 1. Author’s own image Fig. 2. Author’s own image Fig. 3. Victoria University Drone Photograph June 2016 Fig. 4. Author’s own image. Original Photograph Westpck Helicopter Pilot April 2016. Smaller Photos Victoria University Drone June 2016 Fig. 5. World Weather Online. “Wellington Monthly Climate Average, New Zealand.” Wellington, New Zealand Weather Averages. World Weather Online, 2012. Web. 14 June 2016. Fig. 7. Author’s own image Fig. 8. NIWA Taihoro Nukurangi. “Overview of New Zealand’s Climate.” Homepage. NIWA, n.d. Web. 14 June 2016. Fig. 9. Wellington City Council (WCC). “Te Kopahou Reserve”. Sign Map. Owhiro Bay. Fig. 10. Ibid Fig. 11. Ibid Fig. 12. Mitchel, Hilary and John. “Kupe and the Boulder Bank.” Kupe and the Boulder Bank. The Prow, 2010. Web. 15 June 2016. <http://www.theprow.org.nz/maori/kupe-and-the-boulder-bank/#.V2HYkiHvN8E> Fig. 13. Hunter, Gus, and Magnus Hjert. “Meet the Crew: Gus Hunter.” Meet the Crew: Gus Hunter. Weta Workshop, n.d. Web. 15 June 2016. <https://www.wetanz.com/meet-the-crew-gus-hunter/>. Fig. 14. TikiouineTV. “Te Ika-a-maui.” YouTube. YouTube, 24 Nov. 2013. Web. 15 June 2016. <https://www.youtube. com/watch?v=aFf4NIa0aFA>. Fig. 15. Author’s own image Fig. 16. Ibid Fig. 17. Ibid Fig. 18. June 2016 Dominion Post Article on Proposed Thermal Baths on Wellington Waterfront Fig. 19. Furuto, Alison. “New Paracelsus Spa and Pools in Salzburg Winning Proposal / HMGB Architects.” ArchDaily. Archdaily, 08 Nov. 2012. Web. 15 June 2016. <http://www.archdaily.com/291456/new- paracelsus-spa-and-pools-in-salzburg-winning-proposal-hmgb-architects>. Fig. 20. Author’s own image Fig. 21. Edited Floor Plans from Source: Sigrid Hauser, Peter Zumthor, 2007, Peter Aumthor: Therme Vals, Zurich: Scheidegger & Spiess Fig. 22. Ibid Fig. 23. Petit, Emmanuel. “The Gate of Creation: Tadao Ando’s Design School in Mexico.” Architectural Review. EMAP Publishing Limited, 4 Nov. 2013. Web. 15 June 2016. <http://www.architectural-review.com/today/ the-gate-of-creation-tadao-andos-design-school-in-mexico/8654552.fullarticle>.

Photographer: Shigeo Ogawa, Edmund Sumner, Roberto Ortiz

Fig. 24 Ibid Fig. 25. Cultura Inquieta. “AMAZING EXAMPLES OF RAMPS BLENDED INTO STAIRS.” Cultura Inquieta. Cultura Inquieta, 29 Oct. 2014. Web. 15 June 2016. <http://culturainquieta.com/en/arquitectura/item/5379- amazing-examples-of-ramps-blended-into-stairs.html>.

Photograph by Dean Bouchard, Designed by Architectural firm Arthur Erickson.

Fig. 26. Parti, Maria. “Architecture of Doom.” Architecture of Doom. Tumblr, n.d. Web. 15 June 2016. Fig. 27. Fracalossi, PorIgor. “Clássicos Da Arquitetura: Escola Jardim Ipê / Decio Tozzi.” ArchDaily Brasil. Archdaily, 17 Mar. 2012. Web. 15 June 2016. <http://www.archdaily.com.br/br/01-38605/classicos-da-arquitetura-escola-jardim-ipe-decio-tozzi>.

Fig. 28. Hogrefe, Alex. “Alex Hogrefe Performance Theatre.” Visualizingarchitecture. Alex Hogrefe, n.d. Web. 16 Apr. 2016. <https://visualizingarchitecture.com/ Fig. 29. Authors own image derived from figure 31 Fig. 30. Sigurdardóttir, Katrín. “High Plane I - VI” Art Installation. Katrín Sigurdardóttir Studios. Photographer Matthew Sptimus. 2001. Web. 20 Apr. 2016. Fig. 31. LAD. “LAD Visualizes Five Small Villas Isolated in Natural Landscapes.” Design Magazine LAD Visualizes Five Small Villas Isolated in Natural Landscapes. Designboom, 22 May 2014. Web. 15 June 2016. <http:// www.designboom.com/architecture/lad-five-small-villas-isolated-landscapes-05-23-2014/> Fig. 32. Observatoire VIII, Lambda Print on Baryta Paper, 150 x 120 cm, 2014 Noémie Goudal Fig. 33. Woodward, Matthew. “Wirra Willa Pavilion / Matthew Woodward Architecture.” ArchDaily. Archdaily, 30 June 2015. Web. 15 June 2016. <http://www.archdaily.com/769392/wirra-willa-pavilion-matthew- woodward-architecture>. Fig. 34. Authors own image Fig. 35. Closes, David. “Convent De Sant Francesc.” ArchDaily. Archdaily, 08 July 2012. Web. 15 June 2016. <http://www.archdaily.com/251389/convent-de-sant-francesc>. Fig. 36. Fabian, Sheri. 2011 “River Dwelling”. Graphite on vellum <https://nz.pinterest.com/pin/165436986282799216/> Fig. 37. Goudal, Noémie. “In Search of the First Line I.” Photograph. Noémie Goudal, 2014. Web. 15 June 2016. <http://noemiegoudal.com/in-search-of-the-first-line/>. Fig. 38. Author’s own image Fig. 39. Valenti, Gian Paolo. “Architecture D’Aujourd’Hui.” Web log post. RNDRD. Tumblr, n.d. Web. 14 June 2016. <http://rndrd.com/i/532>. Fig. 40. Author’s own image Fig. 41. Ibid Fig. 42. Shibata, Toshio, and Toshiharu Ito. Shibata Toshio. Kyoto, Japan: Korinsha, 1998. Print Fig. 43. Author’s own image Fig. 44. Weinfeld, Isay. “Fasano Las Piedras Hotel / Isay Weinfeld.” ArchDaily. Archdaily, 08 Feb. 2012. Web. 15 June 2016. <http://www.archdaily.com/205947/fasano-las-piedras-hotel-isay-weinfeld>. Fig. 45. Author’s own image Fig. 46. OMA. “Casa Brutale House in a Cliff” ArchDaily. Archdaily, May. 2015. Web. 15 June 2016. Fig. 47. Siza, Alvaro “Leça Swimming Pools” Pinterest 2011. Web 16 May. 2016. Fig. 48. Author’s own image Fig. 49. Hogrefe, Alex. “Cliff Master.” Visualizingarchitecture. Alex Hogrefe, n.d. Web. 16 Apr. 2016. <https:// visualizingarchitecture.com/ Fig. 50 “Minas Tirith.” The One Wiki to Rule Them All. Wikia, n.d. Web. 15 June 2016. <http://lotr.wikia.com/wiki/Minas_Tirith> (Based on fictional novel/film “Lord of the Rings” J.R.R Tolken) Fig. 51. Author’s own image Fig. 52. Stoller, Ezra. “Portfolio - Ezra Stoller.” Portfolio - Ezra Stoller. Esto, 15 June 2016. Web. 15 June 2016. Fig. 53. Author’s own image Fig. 54 - 75. Ibid Fig. 76. GNS. “Scientists Find Part of Pink and White Terraces under Lake Rotomahana.” GNS Science. GNS Science, 01 Feb. 2007. Web. 15 June 2016. <http://www.gns.cri.nz/Home/News-and-Events/ Media-Releases/Scientists-find-part-of-Terraces>. Fig. 76 - 89. Author’s own image

WORKS CITED // Coates, Nigel. “Narrative Architecture: Architectural Design Primers series”. Wiley, Chichester, 12 Dec. 2012. Print Ferguson, Alfred R. “On “Nothing Gold Can Stay”” Modern American Poetry. University Press of Mississippi, 1973. Web. 16 June 2016 GNS. “Scientists Find Part of Pink and White Terraces under Lake Rotomahana.” GNS Science. GNS Science, 01 Feb. 2007. Web. 15 June 2016. LAD. “LAD Visualizes Five Small Villas Isolated in Natural Landscapes.” Design Magazine LAD Visualizes Five Small Villas Isolated in Natural Landscapes. Designboom, 22 May 2014. Web. 15 June 2016. Merritt, Daniel. “Architecture and the productive implications of pause” Hewett, M.Arch. Rice University. 1992. Print Mitchel, Hilary and John. “Kupe and the Boulder Bank.” Kupe and the Boulder Bank. The Prow, 2010. Web. 15 June 2016. OMA. “Casa Brutale House in a Cliff” ArchDaily. Archdaily, May. 2015. Web. 15 June 2016. Sigurdardóttir, Katrín. “High Plane I - VI” Art Installation. Katrín Sigurdardóttir Studios. Photographer Matthew Sptimus. 2001. Web. 20 Apr. 2016.

DECLARATION FORM //