Joseph Bjelic-Webster from Te Whare Wānanga o Wairaka, Unitec, School of Architecture is a finalist for his project 'Foregrounding Urban Futures: Bio-regional Materiality at Te Rimutahi'.
Project description
This bio-regional materials hub tests the possibilities of a new class of materials in a prominent urban context. The project addresses the harms caused by the continued use of high-carbon-footprint materials by rethinking architectural materiality.
The hub, in a prominent site on the corner of Karangahape and Ponsonby Roads, is constructed with materials sourced within 100 kilometres. It houses exhibition, learning and making spaces, demonstrating the possibility of a sustainable urban built environment. The site has a pre- and early colonial history of a bio-regional building culture when timber, harakeke, nikau and clay bricks were once commonplace.
The hub reveals an alternative urban reality where bio-regional materials are foregrounded.
Image gallery
