Chapter Projects

Murals are by nature community oriented projects and statements. San Francisco and the Bay Area boast a variety of murals that feature artistic statements, political messages, historical figures, and playful images. Many neighborhoods are very integrated communities with a variety of inhabitants. While as a whole the Bay Area is clean and safe, some neighborhoods are still affected by homelessness, drugs, abuse, and crime. In an effort to clean up these neighborhoods, painting a mural will provide a positive aspect everyone can enjoy. Everyone has seen the effects of what graffiti and tagging can do to the façade of a building. Often times, someone has scribbled his or her initials or their signature to deface the existing conditions. Not only is it an eyesore, it becomes almost a blank canvas for other people to participate in. Neighbors have complained and even tried to combat the tagging of others by continuously painting over it. Imagine instead a brightly colored mural in which the local community can become involved in the design and painting of. Seen from other murals around the neighborhood, painting a mural will make it much less susceptive to tagging. Building on San Francisco's technology spirit, the mural will be a real world marker that links visitors via a free mobile app to an interactive narrative to learn more about the project and community involved through an augmented reality experience. Through creativity, the architectural design process, and motivation of members and the neighbors, this could become a wonderful project that aims to stand as a model to future work. How can you say no?

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Habitat for Humanity of Wake County, the Raleigh Chapter of Architecture for Humanity, and the American Institute of Architects North Carolina Triangle Section are pleased to announce the ReSpace Competition. This design contest is an effort to raise awareness of reusable materials while showcasing creative and successful small space designs inspired by reuse. The ReSpace Competition asks designers to approach the process of designing a small, transportable space with an emphasis on the material “ingredients” that will shape it. Visit our website for more information: www.respace.org

Mua Muri Negotiation Centre Carrying faith, out of the trench. Over my shoulder. Over and over. - Lyrics from 'After the War', I Am Giant. We believe that it is insufficient in the present state of global conflict to merely convert abandoned military buildings into civic space without acknowledging the international military aggression that is still rampant in the world today. The world is not demilitarising rather the context for military deployment is shifting from defending borders to defending supply lines, and the increasing role of monitoring citizens in public spaces. Our team has created a proposal for a negotiation centre that uses state of the art mediation methodologies and the protocols of traditional Maori grievance forums, within a unique heritage landscape of a colonial battleground, the Ruapekapeka Pa. This proposal arises from the lessons imbued in the site including the will to move beyond war and into non-violent conflict resolution. The name of the centre Mua Muri is Maori for ‘past’ and ‘future’, drawing on the Maori concept of time where ‘mua’ implies past, yet also means in front. ‘Muri’ implies the future but also means the underpin our proposal. Context In 1845-46 Ruapekapeka Pa was the site chosen by five Maori iwi (tribes) gathered to challenge British colonial forces. The famous war chief Te Ruki Kawiti, whose subterranean military architecture was emulated widely in World War I, ended the last land war in the district. He offered a strategic opportunity to the British colonial forces. Kawiti's words to Governor Grey, the Crown’s representative, were: "If you have had enough then I have had enough, but if you have not had enough, then I have not had enough either." Thus the battle was over and both sides famously put down their weapons. The incident changed from aggression and conflict to negotiation and understanding - demonstrative of New Zealand's traditions of mediation with particular protocols advocated within Maori culture. Learning from the Land The scheme works with the landscape of the Ruapekapeka Pa, as a former place of war and resolution in New Zealand colonial history. Our team is proposing an architectural addition adjacent to the pa site, a negotiation centre that refers to the toil of Maori trench warfare through its architectural language. The trench architecture of old has left a sculptural landscape of submerged contours and depressions. Reappropriating the materiality and subterranean qualities of the trench architecture, the building hugs the contours of the slope, subtly inset into the hillside. The materiality is exposed wood, raw post beam structures, and a living roof. The site offers north facing views towards the Bay of Islands since the pa sits on one of the highest points. Maori Influence The architectural space is able to accommodate for a traditional Maori powhiri (welcoming ceremony). This is where visitors are formally called forth by the hosts of the land, ending in the joining together of various peoples. The protocol of the negotiation centre will draw upon the values of the hui, a Maori gathering in which negotiations and conflicts are resolved according to a democratic process that allows all sides of an issue to be explored. Outcomes are decided by consensus. Maori protocols are especially sensitive and attuned to the process of expressing grievance. In the tradition of whaikorero, the art of Maori oratory, each opportunity for speech is given due respect. Programme The scheme is a home for negotiation, mediation and reconciliation. It is a programme that allows non-violent conflict resolution to be developed and evolved – the cutting edge of negotiation practices both for local and international benefit. It is where both local indigenous knowledge and the most progressive of international mediation practices can be realised. We are particularly interested in the set of contemporary protocols being developed by the International Mediation Institute in The Hague in the Netherlands, the Centre for Negotiation Analysis and the Community Mediation Centre in Singapore. The negotiation centre can be used at a range of scales, from family groups and regional gatherings to national and international uses. It is a space in which sensitive and significant negotiations can take place, accommodating for different sides to come together on neutral ground. As a centre for improving the state of reconciliation in the world, the building can also hold international workshops and conferences to further the discourse and educate on such issues. How the world moves past war is our agenda. Community Consultation As a culturally, historically and physically sensitive site, our group has consulted with the Department of Conservation, local Iwi and the local community to come up with a scheme that enhances the site without damaging it or breaching tapu (sacredness). According to a member of the Iwi, the tapu nature of the site is due to the blood of the ancestors being spilled on the land. However, most of this tapu has been lifted to allow people to visit the site. Design The architectural design is located alongside the pa site, rather than directly on the sacred pa site, caters for 50 people and is designed as a workshop space. The building includes an indoor-outdoor flow with the grassy atea (forecourt) facing the northern sun. The significance of the atea is that it is the space where human dignity is accentuated and heightened – a charged space. As well as casually used as an outdoor meeting space, it is is also where groups can be welcomed onto the site through a formal powhiri. Ecological Intervention The scheme also includes a subtle landscape intervention on the pa itself. The site is a protected heritage site, under the auspices of the Department of Conservation. The site is currently covered in grass which has to be mowed and the trench holes are exposed and falling into disrepair. The botanical component includes planting native ground covers across the site that preserves the depressions by binding the soil. It will also allow the contours of the archaeological structures to be made visible. The native planting scheme realises a new ecological niche that has occurred with the loss of tree canopies. The bio-diversity of the site would be improved and we would aim to gradually replace grazing grass with native ground covers. It would also re-establish the scattering of boulder outcrops that have been removed from the site, by asking local farmers to donate rocks to the landscape scheme. Sustainability The triple bottom line of social, economic and environmental sustainability is addressed by our community engagement programme and scheme. Socially, the Mua Muri Negotiation Centre offers opportunity for the Kawakawa community, making it a destination rather than a town to pass through. The local Maori community will also be involved through education and welcoming guests onto the land. The Negotiation Centre as an adjunct to the inspiring landscape of the Ruapekapeka Pa, can draw some of the major tourist traffic that moves through the Bay of Islands towards other town centres such as Paihia, Kerikeri and Russell, but often bypasses Kawakawa, the town with the lowest socio-economic demographic of the region. Recently Kawakawa has attempted to build a unique identity within the region through its adoption of a green roof architectural vernacular due to the artist Frederich Hundertvasser having lived there during the late twentieth century. More recently a striking investment by the local community in an entire earth-covered dwelling for a new Kohanga Reo, (Maori language nest for early childhood education) is a serious addition to this local architectural vernacular. Kawakawa aspires to be the Stuttgart of New Zealand. The Negotiation Centre project thus contributes to the momentum already demonstrated by the local community to build a unique identity for the town based upon sustainable architecture. The green roof vernacular of Kawakawa advocates for all of the many sustainability positives that green roofs offer: insulation and cooling, storm water reduction, aesthetic and social values, increasing biodiversity, etc. However the Negotiation Centre project adds another significant cultural dimension to this local vernacular by drawing upon indigenous Maori subterranean architecture used in the battle of Ruapekapeka as the starting point for the design. Thus the project design is a hybrid of a local historical and contemporary design language. Additionally this proposal for [un]restricted access includes a subtle ecological intervention to help stabilise the contours of the former subterranean architecture on Ruapekapeka Pa through planting recommended native species advocated by the Archaeological Institute of New Zealand increasing biodiversity and the aesthetic landscape values of the site. The scheme uses local materials as much as possible and contains several sustainable features. The compressed earth floor has a high thermal mass, helping to maintain a comfortable temperature inside the building by storing the northern sun’s heat and releasing it slowly throughout the night. The building uses solar design principles, the eave shading the building appropriately throughout the year. Double glazing with a low-emissivity coating on the interior is used for glazing insulation. The rest of the building sits within the ground – a natural insulation. Titiro, Whakarongo, Korero - Look, Listen, Speak Our team believes the idea for reclaiming military sites is highly cogent to evolving civic spaces that embody democratic processes. Our interpretation of the site and the indigenous cultural protocols of grievance, respect and active listening in New Zealand give a unique slant that offers much to the community, both locally and globally. List of construction materials Timber frame, walls - Local vernacular Macrocarpa timber - Recycled railway sleepers - Local volcanic boulders for rock, usually a hindrance in surrounding farmland Floor - Compressed earth floor using local clay/subvolcanic soil - Recycled glass bottles for insulation - Compressed hardfill - Sand blinding Green roof - Plywood - Water proof membrane - Drainage tray made from recycled plastic. - Pumice/aggregates - Scrap carpet - Old hay stuffed under twine - Local soil - Native planting Botanical key species list (all NZ natives) - Blechnum Penna Marina - Northern white flowering Rata - Muehlenbeckia Complexa - Helichrysum Lanceolatum - Typha Angustifolia or Raupo - Libertia NZ Native Iris - Kawakawa Micropiper Excelsum - Pachystegia Insignis