Finalist – Sianne Smith
Sianne Smith from the Unitec Department of Architecture was a finalist in the 2018 NZIA Resene Student Design Awards for her project, 'Architecture of Perception'.
Project description
This reimagining of an alternative future for a kauri museum at Matakohe, north of Auckland, transforms a ‘pioneer’ museum, filled with artefacts associated with kauri tree felling and kauri gum sourcing, into a medium to communicate a new, more poignant meaning about the ongoing story of kauri trees – and modern threats to their existence. The project was developed from the inside out, driven by research that investigated how multi-sensory interpretation affects a person’s experience of architecture.
Citation
In a compelling exercise in ecological decolonisation, a museum that celebrates the technology of the destruction of kauri forests is reinterpreted as a museum that issues a call to arms for the species’ survival. There’d be something for a wide variety of visitors to connect with in the broad range of spaces provided in the design, which is well illustrated in a set of compelling acrylic, pastel and collage representations.
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