Crossover
Auckland Heritage Festival
Looking Back
The suburb of New Lynn has historically been an industrial area of Auckland. Reminders of this past still exist in its remaining smokestacks. The area is a largely horizontal one broken up by these vertical brick structures. For the Auckland Heritage Festival, it was important to consider the cultural history of New Lynn and how that might be abstracted into a spectacle that the public would enjoy experiencing. The approach taken was a very subtle one, such that an average visitor would not consciously notice the connection, however, these absract reminders still stimulate the public subconscious.
Multi-sensory Experience
Two very large vortex cannons were fabricated for the No Smoking project, shooting out opposing smoke rings which then collided and dissipated. This was accompanied by two rows of smaller vortex cannons triggered by the beating of speakers underneath. Overall, the project was one that stimulates all of the senses with sound, lighting, the taste and smell of the (harmless) smoke and the pressure wave of the vortex as visitors were encouraged to stand between the cannons as they fired their smoke rings.
This design studio focused largely on teamwork and large scale fabrication. The No Smoking team consisted of 18 second year architecture students and ran over the course of a semester in 2013. With such a large team, coordination and communication was a priority to finish with a successful event. My role in the team involved leadership and administration roles as well as overseeing general design aspects of the project. As part of the initial four person team that won the conceptual stage competition, I was able to get involved in various sub-teams such as sound, lighting, and set up, as well as helping to procure sponsorship for our project costs. Ultimately, it was a very successful event, attracting hundreds of visitors over the course of 5 days. Personally it was my first time having to work with such a large team but I believe it was an extremely rewarding experience.
