Oliver Prisk from Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington School of Architecture is a finalist for his project 'In Tension: Navigating landscape degradation in the Opihi River'.
Project description
This project began with footage taken in 1965 by my grandfather at their old family bach at the Opihi River on the outskirts of Timaru, my hometown. Demolished a decade later, this building had a fleeting presence on the site.
Since then, the quality of the river and surrounding plains has degraded rapidly through intensification of land use and demand for its natural resources. Returning to the site in 2022, a pivot irrigator rested directly on the footprint of the old bach, symbolising the dramatic transition undertaken on the site.
I have responded to this situation through architecture as a way to unravel the complexities and tension held within the site, framing the issue of land degradation and its corresponding effects on the river. The project grapples with the ephemeral, memory-driven qualities of the site and speculates how architecture can enable us to view this issue, and the site itself, in a new light.
Jury citation
When environmental degradation occurs through human intervention, it creates tension within a site. The human has failed to understand that their interaction with the land forms a relationship. Through their misuse, they’ve created an abusive relationship.
Oliver uses architecture and physical models to reflect the history of a rural site and his personal relationship with it. Both the land, on which a family bach once stood, and accompanying waterway have been compromised by demands placed on their resources.
The placement of a deconstructed pivot irrigator within the footprint of the demolished bach is symbolic of changes enforced on the site, and it also stitches the past to the present.
This project represents a highly considered understanding of landscape viewed through a cultural lens. It grapples with the ephemeral, memory-driven qualities of a relationship with landscape, while architectural objects placed within it inform the viewer of its complexities.
