Narrative
Auckland: the City of Scavengers
The notion of accumulating waste seems to be the norm in the toxic cycles of overproduction. Architecture needs to quickly become more an agency of activism in regards to environmental and sustainable construction. To lessen our impact on the global stage, construction-wise, we need to use what exists to create what is to be our future — focusing on what we have rather than what is out there, the possibility that we may find contentment within a circular economy. How can waste be used as sustainable material to transform a self-sufficient urban journey?
In an economically and politically uncertain future in which New Zealand’s growing problem of unsustainable waste continues, resources are scarce. We need to use what exists to create what is to be.
There is no free land left in central Auckland. There are no standard building materials left to use in the built environment. Society is taking matters into its own hands to live, sustain and produce. I predict that this would lead to the emergence of a new DIY movement and spark innovations in construction technology.
This commune will ensure everyone in the community feels safe, healthy, and ultimately happy. Where the environment is appreciated, protected, and enhanced. Minimise damage to nature, ensure it is valued, and its diversity is well protected. A key focus is to minimise waste, reuse or recover it through recycling, composting and energy recovery. While also maximising everyone’s access to the skills and knowledge needed to play a part in this society. Being a part of this movement to work as one may reduce our negative impact on the environmental world and find success within the existing.
First and foremost, reusing existing materials. But for any new additions, traditional building materials would be replaced by bioplastic, a renewable material derived from agricultural bi-products. The material’s ingredients harvested from organic matter grown on-site by the buildings’ occupants. At the centre of each unit’s floor plans, the kitchen would double as a laboratory where bioplastic production would occur.
Due to its self-sustaining nature, the Bio-material can adapt to many locations and climate conditions, which means that the material is easily accessible, affordable, and sustainable.
