Blurring Boundaries

Within the landscapes of Aotearoa New Zealand, we have become stuck in a preservation mindset. While preservation seeks to protect our native environments, if we continue to solely preserve our landscapes, all we can do is maintain or degrade them, rather than activate them. This has led to a disconnect, where people often view landscapes as separate from us. Reframing this perception requires a reimagination of a future where people and landscapes connect harmoniously, each contributing to the potential of the other. Globally, our landscapes are renowned as pristine and wild scenes; however, they are more than visually stunning backdrops. This common perception of landscapes as static scenes restricts the ways we allow our country’s deep history to teach us more enduring, sustainable, and resilient ways to activate our landscapes. Recognising the narratives embedded within these landscapes can inspire a more profound and participatory relationship within them, going beyond passive observation. Though small in relation to the scale of our landscapes, architecture can guide us to reimagine this relationship. By serving as spaces for education, activity, and reflection, architecture can mediate between people and landscape. This thesis explores how architecture can become an integral part of the landscape fabric, treating wilderness landscapes as breathing entities with unique narratives to be unearthed. In doing so, the role of architecture becomes more than basic shelter and aesthetics, becoming spaces that guide us to engage with the environment around us. Through the design of an outdoor youth education facility in Paradise, Otago, this work reimagines wilderness landscapes as places of learning and belonging, creating a symbiotic relationship between people, landscape, and architecture. The design project named Under Pikirakatahi seeks to provide spaces to inspire youth to see themselves as stewards of the land, learn from the stories of the place, and connect through personal and communal engagement.