Te Pūtaha Auaha: Avondale Graffiti Pavilion

Abstract

Public architectural and art installations can enable leftover and forgotten urban spaces to be positively reinvigorated.

These interventions can be produced at different scales and placed in a variety of existing neighbourhood locations. Such projects aim to foster cultural recognition of a place within diverse communities.

In collaboration with Eke Panuku Development Auckland, students from the Unitec School of Architecture developed an architectural design intervention for a leftover space within the suburb of Avondale. The project’s aim required students to design an architectural product that considered community, place, material and function.

The project followed a three-step programme. The first step required architectural students to formulate a placemaking intervention for a defined space set by Eke Panuku. The second step required students and academic staff to prefabricate and install a pavilion on site. The project’s final step required students to observe The Pavilion being graffitied by six curated artists over six months.

At the end of the programme, the pedagogical outcomes highlighted the ability for students to reflect on and be resilient to evolving design problems. The success of the architectural intervention led Eke Panuku to extend the onsite programme to eighteen months, and the naming of The Pavilion in te reo Māori as Te Pūtahi Auaha.