On the Edge: Glamping: Design Investigations in the New Zealand Landscape by Simon Twose

Glamping: Design investigations in the New Zealand Landscape

On the Edge

Natasha Perkins Simon Twose

On the Edge – Glamping: Design Investigations in the New Zealand Landscape © 2015 Victoria UIniversity of Wellington. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any written, electronic, recording, or photocopying without written permission of the publisher or author. The exception would be in the case of brief quotations embodied in the critical articles or reviews and pages where permission is specifically granted by the publisher or author.

About the Editors Natasha Perkins:

Although every precaution has been taken to verify the accuracy of the information contained herein, the author and publisher assume no responsibility for any errors or omissions. No liability is assumed for damages that may result from the use of information contained within.

Natasha has an academic and professional background in industrial, interior, product and furniture design and has 25 years experience in design and product development of architectural products. She holds a Masters of Technology in Product Development and her research focuses on the development of products within large architectural projects. Natasha has exhibited prototypes at the Milan Furniture Fair and Tokyo Designers Week, and exhibited furniture in Australia, UK, Spain and Italy. She has received several awards including an international ‘red dot award’ in 2010. Currently she lectures in Furniture and Interior Architecture courses at the School of Architecture, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. Natasha is of Ngāti Porou and Te Whānau-ā-Apanui descent.

Publisher: Victoria University of Wellington. Editors:

Natasha Perkins Simon Twose

Design:

Graphic Solutions Ltd

ISBN 978-0-475-10199-0 First Edition 2015 Printed in New Zealand Masters students: Polly Dawes – Researcher Hannah Diack Bronwyn Phillipps Matt King – Prototype fabrication Henry Velvin Special thanks to: Associate Professor Mick Abbott Haami Te Whaiti, Ngati Hinewaka Whakaoriori / Masterton Office Staff, Department of Conservation Mitch Holden Craig Christensen Melissa McNulty School of Architecture technicians and administration staff Julie Baga Alex Buckman The Research Trust of Victoria University of Wellington

Simon Twose:

Sponsored by:

Simon Twose is a Senior Lecturer at the School of Architecture, Victoria University of Wellington, and runs his own architectural practice, Simon Twose Architects. His work focuses on design research, looking particularly at the crossings and transferences between architectural drawing and built space. Twose recently exhibited his work at the 2012 Venice Biennale and was co-organiser of a design research symposium at the 14th Venice Biennale, 2014. His buildings have received several architectural awards and are the source material for his PhD, in which he is an invited candidate in the reflective practice programme at RMIT University. Twose is currently preparing work for the PQ15 Prague Quadrennial and is working on several built projects.

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What is It’s in Our Glamping? Nature: Conservation, Landscape, Architecture page 8 Lat Long (-41.601428, 175.326599)

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Introduction

Design Research

page 6

page 22

What is Glamping? page 12 Lat Long (-41.602174, 175.327318)

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Site & Context page 24

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5 Students, 5 Research Objectives

Research Themes

Polly Dawes - page 32 Bronwyn Phillipps - page 38 Hannah Diack - page 44 Henry Velvin - page 50 Matt King - page 56

page 62

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6 Glamping: Design investigations in the New Zealand Landscape

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Introduction Glamping, or glamorous camping, is a recent idea that has gained popular traction. It involves camping that does not compromise comfort. It is designed to attract people who want to experience the outdoors without enduring its harsh conditions; a kind of chardonnay roughing-it. By adding luxury to the simple pleasures of inhabiting the wilderness, Glamping has elevated camping to a high aesthetic activity, allowing full appreciation of the natural environment – with just the right amount of architecture to enhance the experience. This makes Glamping an ideal vehicle to research how Landscape and Architecture relate to one another and, in turn, how Landscape underpins our spatial understandings. This book is published in conjunction with the On the Edge exhibition. On the Edge brings together work from five Architecture master’s students at Victoria University of Wellington. Their task was to design small Glamping shelters at Ngā Pōtiki, on the south Wairarapa coast and in doing so, rethink the relationship of Architecture and Landscape. The student researchers all focused on different facets of the question, using architectural design as a mode of enquiry. The shelters they came up with questioned many aspects of our engagement with the wilderness – some are a direct challenge to touristic expectations of luxury – but by being experimental, their work provides insights into how architecture and landscape can be understood in New Zealand Aotearoa. On the Edge offers these alternative views of Glamping to the wider community. In this book, context is provided by Associate Professor Mick Abbott of Lincoln University, who discusses our intimate connection with the landscape and the often vexed relationship of conservation, landscape and architecture. This sets the scene for a brief overview of the context for Glamping research: there is a glossary of NZ hut typologies, Glamping as a recent phenomenon is surveyed, and the Ngā

Pōtiki site context is described. The research context is described in a section on design research, something familiar to architecture schools but perhaps less well understood by those outside those spheres. Design research is a way of testing and generating new thinking through the ‘iterative’ process of designing. In other words, the messy process of sketching, modelling and building prototypes becomes a design tinted lens, uncovering understandings that might not come to light with other research methods. Following this, each student’s design is summarised and key research themes expanded from their theses, binding the results of their individual investigations into one project. On the Edge presents a snapshot of master’s level design research, directed at the phenomenon of Glamping. In the exhibition space, the results of the students’ yearlong research are arranged on three tables: table one shows design iterations, tests and prototypes – allowing a view into the creative design process that drives the research, table two shows finished designs, with each student’s Glamping proposal accompanied by a bound copy of their thesis. A third table displays a 1:200,000 scale site model of Ngā Pōtiki, with each Glamping design located on the landscape with a latitude and longitude marker. A full size prototype of student Matt King’s wind shelter is installed in the gallery courtyard. This book and exhibition presents the results of a year of vigorous thinking, testing and researching through architectural design. One can imagine Glamping in these shelters, experiencing heightened soundscapes or being challenged by structures that move, mimic natural ecologies, or exaggerate the practical events that make up camping. The five designs exhibit a rich resource of thinking on Architecture and Landscape, using Architectural Design as a research tool and Glamping as provocation.

Photo by Henry Velvin

9 Glamping: Design investigations in the New Zealand Landscape

It’s in Our Nature: Conservation, Landscape, Architecture By Mick Abbott Landscape is at the heart of how we understand our relationship with this country. It pervades our imagination. In the paintings of our artists – McCahon, Angus, Hotere, Cotton and many more.1 In the 100% Pure message of Aotearoa New Zealand that we take to the world with lush images of untouched mountains, forests, and coastlines. And in what we deeply value – as ‘kiwis’ who reminisce of childhood camping holidays, who call ourselves after a rare forest bird, and who march in the streets when mines threaten our national parks.

Docking. Two Hundred Years Of New Zealand Painting.

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A Wild Landscape

Ngā Pōtiki Landscape Photos by Henry Velvin

In our landscapes it is the quality of wildness that we find the most potent. We stand apart, as a nation, in the amount of land we have put aside to remain essentially unchanged from before the arrival of people: fully one third of the country is public conservation land. These wild places have shaped our language. The ‘bush’ is the largest single entry in the Dictionary of New Zealand. In this country we ‘go bush’, ‘bush it’, ‘bush-bash’, ‘be bushed’, and become ‘bush happy’. There are ‘bush shirts’, ‘bush tracks’, ‘bush cattle’, ‘bush bread’ and ‘bush bunks’. And people have been ‘bush doctors’, ‘bush-hands’, ‘bush philosophers’ and ‘bushmen’.2 In the nineteenth century the bush was that frontier which, as it was rolled back, produced the country’s timber, minerals, pasture and settlements – a vital resource that in the process of being consumed created the nation’s wealth. In the twentieth century it was the mountains and remote lands that remained wild. Wilderness shifted its meaning to become a place of escape and personal challenge: a mix of Mulgan’s ‘Man Alone’ and Hillarylike achievements. Wilderness was a stage upon which individuals tested, and defined themselves: a place of ‘re-creation’. If that is our heritage, then what is the possibility of wilderness this century?3 Hopefully more than is currently sought. It is revealing that in the coffee table books focused on this country’s conservation lands, almost always, images of people are absent. Endemic nature remains separate to us, something to look at, but also to stand apart from. This sense of alienation also shapes the Department of Conservation’s management policies. Its overarching Visitor Strategy defines all people in public conservation lands as visitors. International visitors, locals and Tangata Whenua are all lumped together as visitors who ‘are welcomed as valued guests’,4 and who are expected to behave as such. Of course people are more than visitors in our public conservation lands. They are essential to this country’s wild nature. Without an annual injection of many hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars, and countless 2

Orsman. The Dictionary of New Zealand English.

Abbott and Reeve. Wild Heart: the Possibility of Wilderness in Aotearoa New Zealand. 4

Department of Conservation. Visitor Strategy.

hours and resources given through donations and volunteering, our public conservation lands would quickly become ecologically dysfunctional. Birdlife would plummet, forests would be ravaged, and soil structures and cover irreversibly changed.

A Part of Nature Why then this affinity for imagining ourselves as external to this country’s indigenous nature? Perhaps it is based in the potency of the Gondwana story where the land was kept apart from mammals for millions of years. Before people, the land was untouched. Since our arrival it has been permanently despoiled; we are forever the corruptors of Eden. While there is a bittersweet melancholy to this sentiment, it is also an illusion. Through what we eat, drink, wear, and how we live, we are part of nature. The challenge is in determining which nature we want to be connected to. Is it one based solely on exotic species, or is it threaded into the indigenous ecologies that belong to Aotearoa New Zealand? As anthropologists Tim Ingold and Terhi Kurttila observe, becoming local is not a function of where we live but rather the ways we act. Different types of activities draw out different qualities of a place and a person. It is a process by which places become distinctive and people become enmeshed in their environment. Belonging, they assert, ‘has its source in the very activities of inhabiting the land that both bring places into being and constitute persons as of those places as local’.5 Becoming part of this country’s enduring nature requires not only caring for our public conservation lands but also considering ways we let such places, and their distinctive ecosystems, shape our behavior. For Tangata Whenua this process emerged from working with all that belonged here. In this way, harakeke, kōnini, kererū, tōtara, kōura and nīkau are not just names of species, they are also part of a practice of mahinga kai that developed out of being physically and culturally sustained by the country’s distinctive flora, fauna and water life. Current discussions concerning mahinga kai are vitally important, and not only for Tangata Whenua. The conversation is a challenge for us all. For example, opportunities exist to not only hold onto the cultural knowledge of a plant’s medicinal qualities, but to also fully explore the products and services, and the potential exports our native plants could generate. Similarly we need to reconsider if our

environment, and consequently ourselves, would be better served by a plantation timber industry based on native species rather than pinus radiata. And in terms of food is it possible to chart a knowing of the forest through hunting for food that is genuinely of this land, seeking to restock our forests with kererū rather than deer? What level of ecological richness would be needed to sustain flocks of kererū, and how could this be achieved?

The Place of Design A management approach might determine the policies required to better organise wild nature. But a framing of the environment as a resource from which to extract value is limited. A more experimental orientation is needed – one that investigates which actions might closely involve us in the country’s ecologically indigenous qualities. Such experimentation is inherently conjectural, creative, and ‘designerly’. Across a variety of design disciplines, forward-looking and innovative practices of this country’s nature are beginning to emerge. In the field of industrial design, Good Nature (an industrial design company) with its user-centred design focus, has made killing pests appealing. In terms of social innovation, highly active conservation groups, such as the Supporters of Tiritiri Matangi, build communities based on values of volunteering, camaraderie and a welcoming of a diversity of skills and abilities. In recent landscape architecture projects our team has worked with Rio Tinto, Conservation Volunteers New Zealand and DOC to propose a new form of National Park based on experiences of restoration rather than preservation. Another project, with Ngāi Tahu Farming, instigates the planting of a distributed native forest within a dairy conversion. This forest creates a 20 by 10 kilometre stepping stone across the Canterbury Plains for kererū and tui to move to and from the otherwise isolated Banks Peninsula. For architecture where are the most productive opportunities? A technical approach towards the environment – through the likes of solar angles, thermal mass and embodied energy calculations – often leads to generic and mechanistic outcomes. At the other end of the spectrum, looking at an environment simply for its expressive potential suggests an affluence that comes across as indulgent. This particularly so in

those mega-room houses that tumble down sites to multi-car garages and private beaches, and also that solitary box, alone in a field that peels open to its view of a land and ocean ‘out there’; both types seemingly prevalent in current architecture awards. In these approaches the way we behave remains unchallenged and unchanged. As such, architecture remains tasked with transforming a place rather than its people. And this is why this exhibition is exciting. While individual proposals examine specific opportunities for ‘glamorous camping’, the deeper driver at work is an exploration of how this country’s nature might prompt us to act differently, and what architectural forms could prompt this. This exhibition challenges us to ask: how could we engage with the landscapes of Aotearoa New Zealand? Not as a resource or a stage, but rather as the generator of innovative twenty-first century practices and behaviours that are responsive and distinctive to this country’s enduring nature. Herein lies the value of what is exhibited: an exploration not of new territories, but of new relationships with this country’s most distinctive and most ecologically indigenous landscapes, suggesting possible ways to perform, and act in Aotearoa New Zealand as people of the land.

Bio Note: Associate Professor Mick Abbott is Head of the School of Landscape Architecture at Lincoln University. Trained as an architect, he was lead equipment designer for Fairydown and Hallmark. He has co-edited a number of books on landscape themes including Wild Heart: the possibility of Wilderness in Aotearoa New Zealand (2011), and also Beyond the Scene (2010) and Making our Place (2011). A regular columnist for New Zealand Wilderness, Mick also completed, last century, a 130 day solo traverse of the South Island’s Main Divide. Current and recent research partners include Air New Zealand, Antarctica New Zealand, Conservation Volunteers New Zealand, Department of Conservation, Eden Project Cornwall, Fonterra, Kiwi Ranger, Ki Uta Ki Tai - From Mountains to Sea Trust, Ngai Tahu Farming and Rio Tinto.

Ingold and Kurttila. “Perceiving the Environment in Finnish Lapland,” 185.

12 Glamping: Design investigations in the New Zealand Landscape

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What is Glamping? Slaty Creek hut built 1952. Located in Ahaura River & Lake Brunner catchments area. Image source DOC

Camping, the ever-popular kiwi holiday, is undergoing subtle change. For those who like the idea of camping but aren’t so fond of the discomforts, luxury camping, glamorous camping or ‘Glamping’ has become a popular alternative. To some, the idea of Glamping simply means a large tent, an airbed and access to toilet and shower facilities but this new global trend has taken camp comforts to a new extreme. Glamping allows travellers to experience all the positives of camping without any of the ‘uncomfortable’ aspects.6 Glamping has replaced leaky tents and lumpy ground with luxury furnished tents, on site baths and food and wine to order, preferably against a stunning natural backdrop.7 Glamping is marketed as an experience that brings you closer to the wilderness – to get back to nature without giving up any modern day comforts. As the trend has gained popularity, tents, tepees and yurts have been joined by eco-pods, igloos and tree houses. The unique structures often capitalise on their surroundings to help create the potent mix of glamour and wilderness that defines Glamping. There is a spectrum of examples of lightweight and temporary Glamping typologies, from architecture to Art based

speculations: from Cockatoo island, Sydney to Andy Irving and Keila Martin’s Apocalypse Tent. In the Apocalypse Tent, recently exhibited at the Dowse Art Museum, the authors explored ideas of habitation in a ‘…current doomed-filled predicament’. It used ‘lightweight systems and provisional building methods… in an unusual rehearsal in self-sufficiency, offering a different view of an apocalyptic crisis’.8 If managed correctly, Glamping is argued to be an environmentally friendly form of tourism, as the energy used in the construction and management of Glamping sites can be relatively small compared to that of a small hotel. Many sites incorporate solar power and composting toilets into their design while also re-using discarded materials.9 The temporary aspect of many Glamping sites is also a factor in minimising the harmful impacts of buildings on the landscape.

Boscoboinik and Bourquard, “Glamping and Rural Imaginary,” 157. 7

Maxwell, “BuzzWord”; Glamping Hub, “What’s Glamping.”

Irving and Martin; “Apocalypse Tent.”

Maxwell, “BuzzWord”; Glamping Hub, “What’s Glamping.”

14 THIS PAGE: Cape Palliser - Ngawi Camping Area RIGHT: Canopy Camping Escapes launched in 2012 by Liz Henderson and Sonia Minnaar. Photo by Cameron Zegers Photography

Why is it Popular Now?

Origins of Glamping The term “Glamping” is thought to have been coined in Britain,10 and the concept has since gained global popularity, particularly in Europe and America. The notion of a glamorous camping shelter evolved from African safari tours and other adventure tour based camping, where American and European tourists created a demand for high quality accommodation in wilderness locations.11 While adventure tourism may have refined camping into something more glamourous, the luxury tent is a much older concept, with ornamented and well-appointed examples dating from ancient Egypt, Assyria and the Ottoman Empire. The Egyptians and Assyrians used tents to support military campaigns and they were often elaborately ornamented; with extensive gilding and fine materials. The Assyrian King Sennacherib’s (705-681 BC) tent contained folding chairs and portable furniture.12 The luxury, ornamentation and formal variety of the 15th to 18th century Ottoman Empire tent construction has rarely been surpassed.13 These tents played an important role in Ottoman urban ceremonial life and housed important diplomatic receptions. Industrialised countries saw use for the tent again in the 19th century to provide economical, temporary structures to host middle-class leisure activities such as sport

and singing. These structures, along with those used in Paris for urban coffee shops and garden decoration, contained a hint of Ottoman culture.14 There is a long history of the Tent as a luxurious temporary shelter, as well as a simple utilitarian device, demonstrating efficiency of structure and economy of materials.15 This potential to juxtapose utilitarianism and luxury is perhaps why the tent is the predominant form of many contemporary Glamping examples.

10 11

Maxwell, “BuzzWord.”

Higgleton, Sargeant, and Seaton, Chambers Pocket Dictionary. 12

Drew, New Tent Architecture, 12.

Burkhardt, “History of Tent Construction,” 964.

Bußmann, “The Pavilion: A History of Enduring Transience,” 39. 15

Drew, New Tent Architecture, 13.

The popularity of Glamping has occurred after a wider resurgence in the idealisation of rural and nature based spaces.16 Post Modernity has seen an altering of the city dweller’s perceptions of urban and rural spaces, with the countryside being seen as the antidote to the pressure of city life.17 This shift in perception is alloyed to a desire for a kind of tourism that provides an ‘authentic’ and close experience of nature to provide an escape from every-day life.18 This desire to ‘get back to nature and basics’ is what makes Glamping, like its predecessor traditional camping, so appealing. Simple structures, such as tents, allow us to inhabit the landscape more intimately than in static and heavy buildings. They are responsive to changes in the wind, sun and storms and the barrier between inside and outside is reduced, bringing nature into the tent.19 While Glamping has expanded to provide accommodation other than just luxury tents, its essence remains to provide structures that allow for an intimate inhabitation of their surroundings. 16

Boscoboinik and Bourquard, “Glamping and Rural Imaginary,” 150, 157.

Ibid. 150.

Ibid. 154.

Drew, New Tent Architecture, 15–16.

LEFT: Andy Irving and Keila Martin’s Apocalypse Tent at Enjoy Public Art Gallery (2011) Photos by Andy Irving

A Green Sort of Tourism As a tourist activity, Glamping fits into a wider trend of nature based tourism and ecotourism. Travel and tourism are among the world’s fastest growing industries, however if not managed correctly this global growth may put biological and cultural diversity at significant risk.20 The sustainable development movement has gained considerable momentum over the 21st century21 and as a result the travel and tourism industry has had to adapt to a more environmentally and socially conscious market. The desire to travel will not simply disappear so the industry has responded to the green trend by offering ‘socially and environmentally responsible holidays’ along with green transport options.22 The result is ecotourism, a growing niche market that has developed within the larger travel industry.23 The World Tourism Organisation defines ecotourism as:

Tourism that involves travelling to relatively undisturbed natural areas with the specified object of studying, admiring and enjoying nature and its wild plants and animals as well as exciting cultural aspects found in these areas.24 While various other definitions of ecotourism exist, a review of contemporary definitions by Donohue and Needham identified the five most common themes: • Location or natural setting • Conservation • Culture • Benefits to locals • Education25

Ecotourism is further distinguished from mass-tourism through its delivery to primarily small groups by small-scale business. Yeoman argues that the new eco-ethical conscience is here to stay and as a result tourism in New Zealand will have to take note of ecotourism methods.26 As the public grow more eco-conscious people may be less likely to travel to New Zealand due to the distance and impact on the environment. The food miles debate demonstrated that overseas consumers were willing to forgo New Zealand imports due to the perception that food that has travelled a greater distance has a larger carbon footprint.27 It may therefore become imperative to offer eco-friendly tourism and travel options to offset the perceived negatives of travelling here for international visitors. Glamping as a form of tourism can easily be adopted by New Zealand, whose primary tourism commodity is its landscape.28 Even before the trend arrived here, Glamping concepts were already being adopted. Over the past 25 years the Department of Conservation (DOC) has provided a more comfortable hut to suit a wider range of travellers:

Undoubtedly, the new DOC hut designs have been aimed at encouraging less experienced people to enjoy the hills by providing some degree of comfort, including double glazing and insulation.29 However there is an opportunity to create accommodation that engages with its surroundings more intimately than the traditional DOC hut. As an architectural project

brief, Glamping provides a unique vehicle through which to investigate how we relate to our landscape as place of beauty, changeable climactic conditions, unique ecological systems and cultural identity. The student projects in On the Edge are in response to such questions.

Wood, “Ecotourism: Principles, Practices and Policies for Sustainability,” 7.

Singh, Ecotourism, 146.

Yeoman, “Can New Zealand Be a True Green Destination That Goes Beyond Tourist Perceptions of 100% Pure?”. 22

Wood, “Ecotourism: Principles, Practices and Policies for Sustainability,” 7.

Singh, Ecotourism, 146.

Donohoe and Needham, “Ecotourism,” 195.

Yeoman, “Can New Zealand Be a True Green Destination That Goes Beyond Tourist Perceptions of 100% Pure?”. 26

McKie, “How the Myth of Food Miles Hurts the Planet”.

Ministry for the Environment, “Environmental Values.”

Barnett, Brown, and Spearpoint, Shelter from the Storm, 27.

Nature Space

Pods

Tents

Typologies Luxury Tent

Safari Tent

Large, beautiful canvas tents that are fully furnished with real beds, carpets and other home comforts.

These large colonial style tents are common accommodation for African Safari organisations. The spacious rectangular interiors allow for simulation of home spaces.

Domes

Eco Pods

These dome shaped structures can be seen as a modernised version of the tent. They are constructed from a combination of materials including wood, steel and tensile membrane fabrics. They are relatively easy to construct and often have a minimal impact of their surroundings.

Eco-Pods are similar to cabins and are built from sustainable and recycled materials. They combine compact size and energy efficient systems to achieve a small ecological footprint, especially in comparison to traditional forms of holiday accommodation.

Tree House

Igloo

Tree houses can take form as either an updated version of the traditional tree house or an architecturally innovative structure placed in the trees. They are typically accessed by ladder and provide fantastic views of the forest below.

Originally built by the Inuit, glampers can stay in these dome shaped houses that are usually built from blocks of solid snow and insulated with hides

Yurt

The traditional structure of the American Indians. Today wooden poles are arranged in a triangular shape and tied at the top before a weather resistant canvas is wrapped around the poles to create a warm and spacious accommodation.

Yurts were historically built withstand Mongolian winters and are ideal for all year round glamping accommodation. Constructed from fabric wrapped around a wooden lattice framework yurts have a low, wide, cylindrical base and a conical roof.

Transport

Tepee

Cave

Fully furnished natural underground spaces.

Caravan

Caboose

Traditional campervans that have been placed in beautiful locations so the glamper can enjoy the ‘home-on-wheels’ experience without all the driving.

Detached train carriages that have been repurposed for comfortable holiday accommodation.

On Water

Structures that either float directly on water or are supported above water level on columns or stilts.

Asia

Africa

The Americas

Europe

Global Glamping

Australia

Treehotel

Whitepod

Harad, Sweden

Switzerland

This hotel offers five unique rooms in the forest area around Harad. The rooms have been designed by some of Scandanavia’s leading architects, providing accommodation from the avante garde to the more traditional. Source: treehotel.se

Whitepod offers luxury geodesic domes for guests to stay in while experiencing the Swiss Alps. Located on a ski resort, guests can go skiing, dog sledding, snow trekking and paragliding or have a massage at the onsite wellness centre. Source: whitepod.com

EcoCamp

Resort at Paws Up

Patagonia, Chile

Montana, United States

These eco-friendly domes, located in the Torres del Paine National Park, come with private bathrooms and gas heaters. Visitors can go hiking, cycling, skiing or on safari trips before coming back to the communal domes for locally-sourced meals and lounging. Source: ecocamp.travel

The Resort at Paws Up is located in the Blackfoot Valley in the wilderness of Montana. Luxury safari style tents come with fully equipped ensuites, electric fans and heaters and access to a camp chef. A variety of guided activities are available including: archery, fishing, horse riding, hot air ballooning, clay bird shooting and water activities. Source: pawsup.com

Greystoke Mahale

Mbulia Conservancy

Western Tanzania

Nairobi, Kenya

The camp is located in Mahale National Park on a beach overlooking lake Tanganyika. The thatched tents have luxury furninshings and ensuite bathrooms and are tucked back into the forest line. The chimps are the camp’s main draw but visitors can also go hiking, swimming and kayaking. Source: nomad-tanzania.com/west/ greystoke-mahale

This lodge is located in Tsavo West National Park and enjoys views of the Ngulia Hills and Mt Kilimanjaro. The camp has 8 luxury tents with plumbed ensuites and common facilities include a pool and dining area. Guests can go on bush walks to view and track wildlife and take cultural visits to local villages. Source: glampinghub.com

Lake Retreat

Tent River Camp

Nainital, Uttarakhand, India

Bangkok, Thailand

This camp has five furnished Swiss tents with plumbed ensuite facilities and provides all meals. The area is perfect for bird watcing, hiking, fishing and boating. Source: glampinghub.com

The Safari Tents River Camp overlooks the famous River Kwai. The spacious canvas tents are settled on a wooden base and have private verandas and bathrooms. The camp provides adventure activities such as biking, trekking, canoeing and bamboo rafting and guets can also visit the Mon tribal village for cultural performances. Source: glampinghub.com

Longitude 131°

Kangaluna Camp

Yulara, Australia

Gawler, South Australia

Longitude 131° is a luxury-tented lodge facing Uluru in the wilderness of UluruKata Tjuta National Park. A touring programme is designed for guests to experience the landscape and the on site restaurant provides both indoor and outdoor meals. Source: longitude131.com.au

Part of the Gawler Ranges Wilderness Safaris, these luxury safari tents, with access to private showers and toilets, are set in the stunning wilderness region of the Gawler Ranges. Guided tours allow visitors to experience some of South Australia’s finest scenery and wildlife. Source: glampinghub.com

Canonici Di San Marco Marc

Cosy Under Canvas

Teapot Lane

Italy

Wales

Leitrim Ireland

This resort offers luxury tents, placed over a wooden floor in an expanse of parkland and wheat fields. Each tent can sleep between 2-6 guests and has a spacious bedroom, lounge area and bathroom equipped with a shower and hot water. Source: glampingcanonici.com

This glamping site is set on the edge of the Brecon Beacons National Park, allowing for plenty of outdoor activities to keep gusts occupied. Guests stay in fully furnished geodesic domes with wood burning stoves and a timber deck. Source: glampinghub.com

Teapot Lane offers a country getaway with a variety of glamping accommodation options. Guests can choose from luxury furnished yurts complete with king size beds and wood burning stoves, the tree house and a bell tent in summer. Activities in the area include surfing, horseriding and hill walking. Source: glampingireland.ie

Vintage Airstream

Tree Spheres

Clayoquot

Abiquiu, New Mexico, United States

Qualicum Beach, British Columbia, Canada

British Columbia, Canada

This 1960´s Airstream is located in 23 acres of desert in Abiquiu, New Mexico and is protected against the intense New Mexican sun by an authentic ramada. Airstream is small yet comfortable and fully equipped. Visitors can go hiking or climbing in the surrounding desert environment. Source: glampinghub.com

The ultimate tree house accommodation, the Tree Spheres are built using boat building technology and suspended in the West Coast Rainforest. Gusts have access to shared washing, cooking and sauna facilities and can take part in nature tours in the area. Source: glampinghub.com

Clayoquot Wilderness Resort is a short flight from Vancouver where visitors can stay in luxury safari style tents. Visitors can go, whale watching, bear watching or try archery, zip lining and kayaking. Communal tents provide wi-fi access and a games room. Source: wildretreat.com

Authentic Huts

Agafay Desert Camp

Gorah Elephant Camp CampMarc Addo Elephant Park, South Africa This resort offers luxury tents, placed over a wooden floor in an expanse of parkland and wheat fields. Each tent can sleep between 2-6 guests and has a spacious bedroom, lounge area and bathroom equipped with a shower and hot water. Source: glampingcanonici.com

Zambezi Valley, Zambia

Marrakesh, Morocco

The camp of luxury cotton tents is only a small hike away from the imperial city of Marrakesh and faces the imposing snow-caped Atlas mountains. Activities designed to enjoy the great outdoors include dune buggy driving, camel and donkey treks and even a longetrek with a mountain guide and mule transport for equipment (glamping hub).

Tented Camp

Safari Tent Adventure

Floating Cabins

Rishikesh, India

Okkampitiya, Sri Lanka

The camp is at the base of the Himalayas on the banks of the river Ganga, guests stay in comfortable twin share tents with separate showers. The camp has no electricity and all meals are provided in the dining tent. Visitors can go river rafting, rock climbing, swimming and hiking or take part in outdoor games at the camp. Source: glampinghub.com

The luxury-tented lodge is situated in the Weliara jungle, luxury tents are minimally furnished and have their own toilets and verandas. Meals are cooked on a natice style wood fire and the staff will take guests on guided wildlife tours through the wilderness. Elephants are common in the area and can often been seen from the lodge itself. Source: glampinghub.com

Koh Andet Island, Tatai, Cambodia The glamping site is located on the southern coast of Cambodia, close to the city of Koh Kong, where guests stay in tented lodges on platforms that float on the lake. An on site chef prepares meals from local produce and guided jungle trekking tours and kayaking trips are available. Source: glampinghub.com

Avant-Garde Camping Company

Bamurru Plains Safari

Eco Beach Resort

Kakadu, Australia

Broome, Australia

NSW, Australia

These safari bungalows are located to the west of Kakadu National Park on the Mary River floodplains. Each suite comes fully furnished and has access to a private deck and bathroom facilities. The lodge offers Barramundi fishing safaris, local wildlife can be seen from the safari bungalows and an onsite restaurant provides meals. Source: bamurruplains.com

This wilderness resort provides fully furnished luxury safari style tents with access to an ensuite and fly screen ventilation. The retreat offers a variety of activities including guided fishing, hiking, yoga and whale watching. The resort also offers tours that offer an insight into the culture and history of the local region. Source: ecobeach.com.au

This service provides pop-up glamping tents for your chosen location in New South Wales. A variety of bell tents are available and come with furnishings and lighting fixtures. Source: glampinghub.com

22 Glamping: Design investigations in the New Zealand Landscape

‘Design research in architecture cannot … be conceived as synonymous with the immensely broad subject of architecture, or indeed architectural practice, rather, it is a significant seam that runs through design work with a particular focus on the creation of new insight and knowledge.’30

Design Research At Victoria University of Wellington School of Architecture the 5th year of study is undertaken as a 12 month research thesis. This allows students to engage in an indepth study through the medium of design. During 12 months, design becomes a series of acts of discovery that unfold, turn in on themselves and expand outward. This vigorous and often messy process focusses attention on knowledge gained from a designerly understanding of space and with it, the potential to make rich non-linear connections. This emphasis on the often tacit aspects of an enquiry through design research is now firmly established and has garnered many publications. Murray Fraser, in a recent address at a Symposium on Design Research at the Venice Biennale, commented on how design research has gained a new maturity whereby the multiple and non-linear lens given by design now no longer needs incessant justification as legitimate research.31

Each student in this research cluster pursued design in a rigorous manner, using a particular method geared towards their research objectives. Site recordings, models, digital and analogue drawings and large scale prototypes became the ways and means to investigate their propositions, which inevitably evolved as the iterations multiplied. The goal was to design ‘Glamping pods’ as well as to gain understandings of the wider issues, using the inherently circular mode of designing as the research method. In designing, the circularity of the process can be seen as an active way of engaging with a context, be it theoretical, conceptual or physical, with both the context and the research proposition influencing one another in a kind of friction relationship. 30

Fraser, Design Research in Architecture, 2.

Moloney, J., Smitheram, J, Twose, S., (Eds), Architectural Design Research: Why, Who Cares, How.

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Student presentation of design concepts

24 Rock walls – both european and Māori are still evident on the site. Photo by Natasha Perkins

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Site & Context The site for the design research is Ngā Pōtiki Reserve, a Department of Conservation block located two and a half hours drive from Wellington City, just north of Ngawi and Matakitaki-a-Kupe (Cape Palliser). It is an aggressively beautiful and barren landscape with a rich pre-European history and unique ecology. The site has steep greywacke cliffs with foothills created by earthquake strewn rocks. A line of gravel beaches fringes the foothills. The site is battered by winds from the Cook Straight and has a delicate ecology of miniature plant species, sea animals, and other fauna. Māori have had a presence in Ngā Pōtiki for 800 years and used the foothills for the cultivation of Karaka trees. Ngā Pōtiki is a perfect example of ‘dominance of landscape over architecture’ enshrined in NZ law (in the Resource Management Act, 1991). The unique geography, history and ecology of the site provide a rich context for exploring architecture in relation to the New Zealand Landscape. The Wairarapa region consists of three

different environmental zones – a mountainous hinterland, (the Aorangi Mountains), a complex alluvial valley (Wairarapa Plains) with associated rivers and lakes, and a narrow coastal platform.32 The Aorangi Mountains and narrow coastal platform are clear features of the Ngā Pōtiki Reserve block. The Ngā Pōtiki Fan, a large slope of re-deposited gravel, extends out of the Waitetuna river valley into a forested shingle scree. Further up the coast the screes descend all the way to the ocean and this form, of mountains, scree fans and gravel beaches, is the predominant landscape. The Waitetuna Stream cascades down the centre of the site in several waterfalls and pools and then winds down between a carpet of trees on the Ngā Pōtiki fan to the East, and rock strewn tussock land to the West. The Ngā Pōtiki site is rich in subtle variation and the Glamping projects are designed to engage with the landscape at an intimate scale.

Leach, “The Prehistory of the Southern Wairarapa.” 11.

Human History Ngā Pōtiki, though geologically young, has the country’s longest history of human settlement. It was first inhabited by Māori, 800 years ago, who altered the landscape considerably through extensive horticultural production. There is archaeological evidence of both permanent and shifting Māori settlements as tribes retreated to semipermanent camps inland to avoid bitter winter conditions.33 Approximately 249 archaeological sites have been recorded in the region and stone wall complexes are still evident along the coastal flats of the region.34 Several are visible on the site, running perpendicular to a more recent stone wall, thought to be European. In 1250 AD the indigenous population hit the maximum land capacity of 300 people. The Ngāti Hinewaka tribe still regards Matakitakia-Kupe (Cape Palliser) as wāhi tapu ‘a sacred place’, despite abandonment in the 16th century due to a mini ice age that altered the climatic conditions at the site and made it difficult to cultivate crops.35 After a period of absentee ownership, European settlement occurred in 1846 when the Cape Palliser block was initially leased, then freehold. The New Zealand Government allowed run holders to purchase large expanses of land in 185336. These areas were pastoralized and grazed with sheep and cattle. The Ngā Pōtiki block was renamed White Rock Station and leased by a succession of farmers37. The land is still being farmed but was passed into Department of Conservation hands and is now a public reserve despite Ngāti Hinewaka having ownership of the coastal strip used for access. The compounding effects of cultivation, introduced species and a naturally harsh climate have assured continual change and degradation of the pre-human ecology of the site. The ‘natural’ character of the site is very much due to a history of human occupation. 33

Ibid. 21.

Ibid. 13.

Harris, “Rengarenga Lilies And Māori Occupation At Matakitakia-Kupe (Cape Palliser): An Ethnobotanical Study,” 271-286. 35

Harris, “Māori Land Restoration: The Matakitaki-a-Kupe Project,” 46–47

Miskell, “Wairarapa Landscape Study 2010; Landscape Character Description Report,” 80. 37

BELOW: Site location map (NTS) showing approach to site. Source Henry Velvin TOP RIGHT: Early site study analysing the fundamental ecological, geological, and climactic conditions. Source Henry Velvin RIGHT: Site study photos Source Henry Velvin

Wind

Flora and fauna

The wind rose diagram shown is based on data collected near White Rock, which is located 7 km north-east of the site. This shows that the most frequent and highest velocity winds come from the SSW and NNW. The strong southerly winds are considerably colder than the northerlies. Because the coastline is exposed to the south, it is frequently battered by crashing waves and dramatic weather events. There are significant localised variances in wind patterns, due largely to the range of shelter and complex channelling caused by the mountains.

The coastal plateau is a somewhat arid environment with limited shelter from the sun. The low rainfall and high winds result in dry soil conditions, making it difficult for many species to thrive. Instead, only the particularly hardy species, which have evolved to cope in such conditions, inhabit the plateau, finding shade and water which gathers around fallen rocks. The extreme exposure of the site, as well as stock grazing, has prevented the growth of large trees and the majority of flora consists of low-lying grasses and shrubs. There are also some coastal variants of larger inland species that have evolved to cope with the severe environment. Although seemingly desolate and to a degree uninhabitable there is a vast array of native and introduced species that make up the unique ecology of the Ngā Pōtiki coastal plateau. The various species occupy their niches within the system and overlap in impact upon the success of one another. Understanding these dynamics and thinking critically about the role of the humans within these is essential to ensuring the health of the ecosystems.

Water Contributory hydrology: although annual rainfall is low due to the coastal location of the site, there are a number of different hydrological systems contributing water to the coastal plateau.

Sun Because the coastal plateau is a thin margin that runs NE-SW and is enclosed by the Aorangi mountain ranges to the NW and the expanse of the Pacific Ocean to the SE, it receives full sun from morning to early afternoon year round. In winter, however, the sun sets behind the mountains mid to late afternoon.

ABOVE: Map of Soundscape Zones. Image Polly Dawes Right: Sound propagation, sound sources and sound modifiers across the site. Image Polly Dawes

Time

Sound

Temporal conditions of Ngā Pōtiki span from geological time to the immediate and sensorial. Earthquakes have an obvious influence on the landscape, the most recent being the 1855, magnitude 8.2 earthquake which caused significant movement along the Cape Palliser fault. The coastline is edged by raised terraces that point to such dramatic events approximately every 2500 years. Changing seasons and weather operate over smaller time scales, as evidenced by the tortured shape of the trees. Summers are dominated by long hot windy droughts with prevailing north-westerly winds and the winter has wild southerly storms. There are also movements that figure the landscape at very small time scales; from tide and wave action to the shivering of ferns and slow flow of the Waitetuna stream.

Ngā Pōtiki’s soundscape is dramatic and elemental, devoid of the sounds of human occupation and dominated by those of the environment. These sounds reflect the site’s coastal location and wildlife presence, and physical features further modify the site’s sounds by amplifying, masking or attenuating them. The ground of the coastal flat is predominantly soil covered in a layer of vegetation, an acoustically porous material. This results in a greater attenuation of sound across the site than there would be if the ground were acoustically hard. This prevents the site’s soundscape from being completely dominated by the sounds of the sea, which fade as one moves away from the coast or close to the land surface. The result is several discrete soundscape ‘zones’ across the site, each with unique characteristics.

30 Glamping: Design investigations in the New Zealand Landscape

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The five students tested landscape relations thorough the design of Glamping pods. Their proposals put preconceptions of landscape into question through iterative design. Polly Dawes, for instance, privileged aural experience, and developed small shell-like structures that accentuated sound-field conditions of the site.

Soundscapes

Hannah’s Hut

On Edge

In Polly Dawes’s research, architecture became a device to heighten awareness of the acoustic life of the landscape. This prioritisation of aural experience was in reaction to the predominance of vision in landscape conceptions. She recorded soundscapes at various scales, designed shell-like accentuating devices, and tested these in digital software. The shells were scattered across the landscape according to natural sound sources and were to be experienced by going from one point of intensity to another. The intention was to merge visitor and landscape, as both receptors and emitters of sound.

Hannah Diack looked at Māori tikanga (protocols) with communal eating. She critiqued the lack of Māori conceptual influences in the conventional hut. She developed a Whare Kai (eating house) as the focus of a group of small sleeping units dispersed through the site. The protocols of Māori communal eating informed a building that dug into the ground, in reference to traditional ‘hāngī’ cooking practices, and was enveloped in a faceted roof, which distilled geometries from work by the celebrated Māori architect John Scott. The research pointed to ways of thinking about NZ landscape in counterpoint to dominant Pākehā (European) conceptions.

Matthew King designed a series of pavilions that pursued the pleasures associated with practical, everyday activities. Matt isolated key rituals of camping – collecting water, making fire, gaining shelter from the wind – and produced a series of designs. These were tested at full size, on site, and the results bound in to more design tests. Practicalities of occupying landscape were considered, and shifted in interesting ways; problematized, ironically, by the experimental approach to practicality in the design.

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Non-Static Wilderness

Groundcover

Bronwyn Phillipps designed kinetic shelters that attuned the occupant to affective registers in the site. She developed woven structures that responded to wind and occupation. These were designed through manipulation by hand, and then tested at large scale on site. The temporality of the structures and the design process was allied to the temporariness of camping. Bronwyn developed a ‘stick weave’ system of moveable envelopes that were designed to respond to wind and able to be manipulated by the inhabitant. Her interest was in creating a non-static architecture that reflected temporalities of the site.

Henry Velvin was interested in how architecture could participate in landscape ecologies and designed a group of buildings that engaged with the site’s vast yet delicate dynamics. Henry took the Department of Conservation (DOC) backcountry hut as an anti-precedent, and critiqued the apathetic approach to the development and care of New Zealand’s conservation estate. He designed with the aim of expanding public ecological literacy, using structures that provide inhabitation at the same time as opportunities for visitors to engage with natural ecologies. A series of pavilions collected water, encouraged plant and animal life and allowed visitors to participate in conservation activities. In doing so the project developed a way to assimilate ecological conservation into built form.

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Polly Dawes

Soundscapes This project uses architecture as a soundscape mediator to activate a heightened level of engagement between landscape and people. Western society historically regarded sight as a privileged sense and artistic devices introduced in the Renaissance have shaped the way we relate to landscape through architecture. Architecture is commonly treated as a frame through which landscape is viewed, accustoming us to being spectators of rather than participants with our surroundings. To shift away from this static relationship this project prioritises acoustic considerations over visual ones, appealing to the dynamic and immersive sense of hearing to invite participation between architecture, landscape and people. R. Murray Schafer’s Soundscape Philosophy

informs a design method where the architecture composes an acoustic environment in the landscape. The architecture is dispersed both formally and acoustically through the landscape, blurring the distinctions between them, physically and acoustically. Appealing to the auditory sense shifts how people relate to landscape through architecture, so that it becomes a framework within which landscape can be experienced. The architecture performs as a soundwalk as the spaces and their acoustic qualities have been consciously composed, inviting the occupant to experience the site and architecture through an acoustic journey. This actively informed the design process and helped shaped the arrangement of the final design

Coast

Sleep

River

Wash

Plain

Sleep

Sky

Eat

Main Living Spaces 1. Focal Point A. Coast B. River C. Plain D. Sky 2. Sleeping Pod 3. Bathroom 4. Kitchen

1. 2. 3. 6. 4. 5. 7. 8. 9.

5. 10.

Detail: Exterior Membrane 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.

Outer membrane: PTFE Coated Glass Fibre Fabric Membrane Over Supporting Structure PTFE coated tape over curing rubber Structural truss member, 20mm stainless steel circular section Air Gap Insulation support layer: wire net Mineral fibre insulation (100mm) 50x50 5mm stainless steel fixing plates fillet welded to truss members at 500crs 40x50 5mm stainless steel clamping plate M8 stainless steel bolts to clamp wire support net in place Inner Membrane: Fabrasorb acoustic e membrane

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Bronwyn Phillipps

Non-Static Wilderness One of the most captivating qualities of the New Zealand wilderness is its temporality; season’s, weather, night and day, are multiple interconnected systems in flux. These temporal systems are intricately linked and determine the feel of the environment. Architecture is designed to resist this temporality, with lights, shelter, warmth and more. The limited engagement between interior and exterior also removes environmental conditions that have positive impact. The fixity of architecture, in its resistance to the uncontrollable, to the temporal flux inherent in the environment, limits the potential for wilderness architecture to relate to its constantly changing context. This project explores an interactive architecture that is adaptable to the temporality of its context. It also seeks to create a design that attracts people to a wilderness setting and amplifies a person’s awareness and connection with the natural environment. This project proposes that non-static architecture creates a stronger connection between people, architecture and the natural

environment. If we explore the notion of space as undeterminable and deformable, it can become less defined in the mind of the occupant, thus creates the possibility for repetitive moments of surprise and connection with each encounter.38 A fluid semi-permanent shelter is designed, constructed of a woven structural system responsive to both weather conditions and the occupants. The activities that occur within these structures maximise the nonstatic potential for movement and create a constant interaction with the landscape. The interplay between uncontrollable flux and controllable movement in the structures provides a challenging context that heightens the inhabitant’s awareness of the relationship between people, architecture and natural environment.

38 Bhatt, Mehul. Dylla, Frank. Hois, Joana. “Spatio-terminological inference for the design of ambient environments.” Spatial Information Theory. Berlin: Springer, 2009. 371-391. Print.

ABOVE: Model manipulation to find forms that exhibit the most movement RIGHT: Image series showing the transformation of structure

500mm

1000mm

2500mm

Living / Dining

Bedroom - Double

45 Glamping: Design investigations in the New Zealand Landscape

ichael and Kress, ‘A Historical View of onshipes between Humans and Plants,’ 3

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Hannah Diack

Hannah’s Hut Known for its beautiful scenery, New Zealand’s natural landscape is precious to our identity. Tramping is a huge part of New Zealand’s outdoor culture. One of the key features of this outdoor culture is the network of tramping huts enjoyed by many people, locals and visitors alike. The key purpose of the Department of Conservation (DOC) huts within New Zealand’s Conservation estate is shelter. There is little attempt for the huts to reflect their natural context or the people who use them. In this respect, existing DOC huts are rigid. As a country with strong Pacific/Oceanic origins, the Māori culture similarly contributes largely towards our identity. DOC, however, does not intentionally manifest these origins in its architecture, overlooking New Zealand’s Māori heritage. Although elements of the DOC huts are successful, they do not facilitate the level of integration between people, natural context and built form that I am proposing. With a focus on particular Māori values, this project aims

to investigate how the relationships between people, natural context and built form can be strengthened; hence challenging the rigidity of existing DOC huts. While encouraging these relationships, the proposal seeks to maintain and intensify the New Zealand tramping hut culture. This culture lies in the rituals of cooking, eating and gathering. Prior to, during and following a meal, various people gather together, play cards, chat, tell stories and meet new people. It is these interactions that are fundamental to the overall experience of tramping. Five ‘criteria’, derived from Māori values and architectural concepts inform the design. These are as follows: proximity + orientation, human scale, community, between-ness and responsiveness. The proposed outcome addresses these five criteria and forms a strong relationship between people, natural context and built form. Through strengthening these relationships, ‘Hannah’s Hut’ challenges the rigidity of existing DOC huts.

LEFT: Early concept development RIGHT & BELOW: Concept models & drawing

Sleeping Pod The design has four individual sleeping pods that progress up the hill behind the whare kai. The small rectangular form means that there is no excess space. This smallness also encourages guests to predominantly spend time in the whare kai. Each sleeping pod is divided into two separate halves, each with a double bed. Sheltered storage is provided beneath the pod, either side of the ladder. The individual sleeping pods are separated from the common whare kai and are no less than 20m in proximity to this shared space. Each pod is separated by roughly 10m. This not only provides privacy for visitors but forces them to go outside and engage with the landscape in order to occupy the common space. Access into and the arrangement of the sleeping pods is dictated by the contours of Ngā Pōtiki Reserve. Based on the gradient of the hill, the two halves of each sleeping pod are different. At the lower end people must climb a ladder to access the pod. However, at the upper end, inhabitants can walk straight in. The design of these pods responds to the needs of a range of visitors. For example; if an elderly couple want to stay in the huts it is likely that they would not want to climb up the ladder of the lower half of the pods. They could, however, stay in the upper half where access is much more user friendly. The proposed scheme is flexible to inhabitancy – accommodating various visitors. The architecture of the sleeping pods and the concrete pathway/stairs therefore facilitates a strong relationship with the landscape and visitors to the site.

50 Glamping: Design investigations in the New Zealand Landscape

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Henry Velvin

Groundcover The rise of ecotourism is linked with a growing intrigue of ‘isolated’ locations and a desire to explore remoteness39. Given the ever present preconceptions which revere New Zealand as a unique, clean, green paradise, there is both and obligation to and benefit from careful consideration of the development of New Zealand’s ‘off the radar’ places, especially in relation to how they promote conservation efforts. 39

Carter and LeCuyer. (Eds.). “Off the Radar”, 6.

57 Glamping: Design investigations in the New Zealand Landscape

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Matthew King

On Edge In the past everyday actions were linked closer to nature. For example to dry your clothes you would require a sunny day; now we can use dryers anytime we like. These home appliances provide convenience but sever the connection we have to our exterior environment. Therefore in order to create pleasure out of the everyday we need to reconnect practical activities to nature. This project tests the potential of the practical and pleasurable through considering architecture as a device. The project functions as a testing ground, utilizing smallscale architecture to test pleasures in the undertaking of everyday actions. The site is very remote therefore practical aspects such as resource collection will be part of the everyday experience. Resource collection, transportation and function will be examined through the use of new innovative mechanisms; these devices will manipulate constructional and archetypal elements to harness the natural elements on the site of: fire, water and wind. The reconsideration of these practical elements is designed to enhance encounters between users and the surrounding environment.

Through architecture that problematises occupation, everyday actions become new exciting memories of dwelling in nature. Early investigation into the site highlighted the presence of three site conditions. These three conditions are: 1. Enclosed, gentle • Sheltered • Warm • Quiet 2. Open, flat • Hostile • Exposed • Rugged • Strong winds 3. Semi-protected, rough • Undulating • Swampy • Steep The three site conditions present opportunities to test how modifications of practical constraints effect the occupation of small scale dwellings.

1. Wind belt wall 2. Fluorescent battens 3. Battery

Assembly of 1:1 glamping structure prototype. Photos by Jess O’Brien

66 Glamping: Design investigations in the New Zealand Landscape

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Conclusion In New Zealand, architecture and landscape are close bedfellows, but it is an uneasy pairing. Our national identity, suburbs, even our cities are a strange amalgam of veneration for the natural and greedy acquisition of its qualities. Our most celebrated houses are crisp figures in beautiful settings; nestled in native bush, with expansive views of the sea or mountains; and these are praised for their simple intentions: as ‘elegant sheds’ in poetic concert with their surroundings. This somewhat touristic assumption, that New Zealand architecture is in a comfortable relation to its landscape context, was critiqued by five Master’s Students and the results of their research are presented in the On the Edge exhibition, which this book accompanies. The Students attempted to give an architectural agency to wilderness, and in doing so highlighted New Zealand architecture’s complex relation to landscape.

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