Studio: Yale Advanced Studio Fall 2017           

Faculty: Peggy Deamer 

Devonport New Zealand has historically been a working-class enclave just north of Downtown Auckland. Although its lineage has been centered around a working-class fishing and boat making community, today, Devonport has priced out most of this individual has the quaint Victorian homes of the area have risen in price due to the larger housing shortage in the Auckland Metro Area. In an effort to address housing stress, Auckland has mandated that all areas increase housing density levels – that is over course for Devonport which was exempt due to its historical quality. However this historic fabric is at great risk due to the impending sea level rise, specific downtown Devonport with is almost completely located within the 1-meter flood plan level.

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This project seeks to both address sea level rise and make an argument for the construction of a new dense fabric of housing in order to both address the shortage of housing but also to directly facilitate the return of the working class that was once so prevalent in Devonport. By leveraging a tradeoff, building a new seawall in exchange for new housing, the project proposes the construction of a new community of medium-density housing situated on the water – returning to some of the historical forms of dwelling once normative within Devonport.