(Re)Inhabitation: Pursuing the Continued Use of Auckland CBD’s Disused Heritage Through an Approach of Minimum Intervention

Abstract

Throughout a building’s lifespan, cycles of use and disuse are an inevitability. Some spaces however, experience prolonged periods of disuse, creating voids in a once thriving urban fabric. Globally, the issue of disuse is attributable to wider problems: urbanisation, economic decline, climate change effects, violent conflicts, changes in legislation, natural disasters, and demographic shifts.

New Zealand is all too familiar with the effects of natural disasters, and like the rest of the world is feeling the effects of a pandemic and its resulting economic downturn. New Zealand’s tectonic setting has not been kind to the European architectural styles of our historical architecture. Today, strict earthquake strengthening regulation has left property owners in a stalemate with local authorities, leading to decay and abandonment. The Auckland Central Business District (CBD) has recently been subject to recurring periods of downturn, notably the development of the Central Rail Link (CRL) Network, and the Covid-19 pandemic. These periods of downturn have repeatedly diminished hopes of regeneration and resulted in an increasing number of spaces becoming vacant or abandoned.

Rooted in the conservation principle of Minimum Intervention, this thesis explores a process of temporary adaptation to support the continued use of abandoned heritage sites, aiming to maintain cultural significance and provide opportunity for wider urban regeneration. While literature exists regarding adaptive reuse of heritage spaces, this thesis focuses specifically on how temporary adaptation can be applied to disused sites in the Auckland Central Business District area. This thesis features an exploration of current and historical methods of adaptive reuse, conservation practice, and temporary architecture, as well as the practical application of these methodologies in key precedents. This exploration identifies conceptual alignment between conservation principles of minimum intervention and the restrained and reversible nature of temporary architecture. Additionally, this analysis identifies how temporary architecture is particularly suited to the reinhabitation of disused sites through its simple construction, accessibility, and atmospheric appeal. This study engages the question: How can temporary adaptive reuse strategies support the reinhabitation of disused cultural heritage sites in Auckland CBD?

This thesis focuses on developing an approach of minimal adaptation to aid the reinhabitation of three disused sites in Auckland CBD: the former Arthur Yates Seed Co. buildings on Albert Street, the former Smith & Caughey flagship store fronting Queen, Wellesley, and Elliott Streets, and the St James Theatre site located between Queen and Lorne Streets. Differences in site context, building typology, and existing communities provide a diversity of challenges to test a design intervention that follows this minimal approach. This design is guided by a framework that builds upon key methodologies from notable theorists and conservation organisations. The principles of Minimum Intervention, Continued Use, Programmatic Flexibility, and Sustainable Lifecycles have been carefully selected to reflect these theories, thus grounding the proposed design outcomes in an applicable discourse and offering a conceptual framework for further studies.