Inside outside

Abstract

With Auckland now the 4th most diverse city in the world, there is a need for architecture to better address cultural diversity in New Zealand’s communities and homes. Designing homes with sensitivity to this variety of cultures will allow people arriving to live in New Zealand from abroad to settle into the local environment, in addition to encouraging a sense of place and easing interaction with local people. By recognizing this need for newcomers, and how addressing it can contribute to a multicultural community, the people of New Zealand can begin to recognise the benefits of interacting with different cultures.

This research project questions how the design of shared housing can incorporate both Chinese and New Zealand cultures in order to ease integration for newcomers and promote a sense of inclusivity. Chinese have been present in New Zealand for nearly two hundred years. Helene Wong argues that this extensive history should have been sufficient for Chinese culture to be integrated and accepted in New Zealand, but there is still a division. As immigrants are arriving in New Zealand on a daily basis, there is an ongoing need for cultural integration.

Shared housing encourages multiple occupants to engage with each other by promoting social interaction and a sense of community. As successfully identified in their project ‘The Commons,’ Breathe Architecture’s idea of housing for communities achieves this by implementing shared spaces, such as roof gardens and shared laundry areas. This concept is unusual in New Zealand living culture but could provide the solution to cultural integration by promoting social interaction between people from different backgrounds at an immediate, person to person level. By utilising this model of shared housing, in conjunction with design that considers different cultural backgrounds, newcomers may feel welcome as fellow New Zealanders.