Dwelling in the View What does the bach settlement of Taylors Mistake reveal about cultural attitudes toward living in nature amongst New Zealanders? Ben Wareing McGill University, Montreal August 2014 An Urban Design and Housing Research Report submitted to McGill University in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of post‐professional Master of Architecture. © Ben Wareing Abstract This study uncovers and explains the cultural attitudes toward nature that have contributed to the development of the bach settlement of Taylors Mistake in Christchurch, New Zealand. This coastal community was founded in the late nineteenth century and reflects the sensibilities of landscape romanticism. The scenery was originally appreciated for its natural picturesque characteristics, which were altered and accentuated in the construction of a landscape which reflected the rolling hillside pasture of the English countryside, interrupted by the irregular and sublimely jagged coastline. The baches (small and simple holiday cottages) nestled into the cliffs provided a source of animation and emphasised the power and harshness of the climate, reflecting an ideology in which landscape encompassed both the human and the natural. At this time, the natural environment was interpreted through the constructs of educated taste. Nature was understood as malleable, manipulated in the design of landscape to express the ideals of the refined aesthete in the irregularity, roughness, variety and sudden deviation of the picturesque. By controlling and understanding nature based on these cultural parameters, the land was commodified and sovereignty expressed, enabling appropriation and colonisation. Whilst reflecting the aesthetic preferences of the early British settlers, the picturesque landscape of Taylors Mistake became endowed with meaning through the practice of dwelling. This was influenced by the war experiences of the return servicemen bach builders, a new spirit of nationalism and societal changes. The bach in the landscape became a refuge and the relationship between the dwellers and nature more embodied and significant. Dwelling represents a meaningful model of stewardship, encouraging environmental responsibility and sustainable practice. To allow for such a relationship with nature, the dominant modern environmental paradigms which separate the human and natural must be reassessed. Place and dwelling need to find translation in the central city of Christchurch as it rebuilds following the major earthquakes of 2010 and 2011 in order for its residents to be able to connect with their environment meaningfully and sustainably. Acknowledgments I’d like to take this opportunity to thank my supervisor Professor Nik Luka for his insight, encouragement and assistance. This was particularly useful in helping me organise my thoughts and structure this study in a coherent and meaningful way. Professor Vikram Bhatt, too, offered his time and advice. I’d like to thank Richard Sewell and Hamish Campbell for helping me gather source information from Christchurch and sending it to Montreal, providing me with invaluable material that I could not have otherwise accessed. Finally, I’d like to express my gratitude to Catherine Quigley for her thoughts and support over these last few months. Contents Introduction 1 Methodology 4 City Context 6 The Bach 9 Taylors Mistake: Setting the Scene 16 The Cave Mansions 19 Landscape Romanticism 25 Background: Changing Ideals 26 Aesthetic Theory 27 Picturesque Travel: Nationalism and Colonialism 32 Picturesque Architecture: The Discovery of the Vernacular 39 The Picturesque Cottage 41 Appropriation 53 ‘Man Alone’ Together 57 A Coming of Age 62 Learning how to Dwell 65 The Genius Loci 70 The Hut goes Full Circle 74 The Development of the Bach 77 Conclusion: Contemporary Environmental Discourse 85 Guardians of the Mistake? 88 Dwelling in the Modern City 92 It’s Our Fault: Considerations for the Rebuilding of Christchurch 96 Reference List 104 Image References 114 Introduction On the 4th of September 2010, Christchurch, the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (fig. 1), was struck by a powerful earthquake measuring 7.1 on the Richter scale. This was followed by a series of severe aftershocks in the following days and months and a far more devastating seismic rupture on the 22nd of February, 2011. This affected the immediate collapse of several buildings and caused such compromise to structural integrity that three quarters of the central city has required demolition (fig. 2). The Christchurch City Council has issued the Christchurch Central Recovery Plan which propagates inner‐city living, something previously lacking in the city. If this is to be successful in attracting residents from the sprawling suburban environment, it must respond to the city’s immediate context and the cultural influences that give it particularity. To address the sense of place and better understand the cultural context of Christchurch, this study investigates one of its more curious and significant settlements. It endeavours to discover what the ex‐urban settlement of Taylors Mistake (fig. 3 & 4), New Zealand’s earliest bach community, reveals about cultural attitudes toward living in nature amongst New Zealanders. A historic analysis of this once thriving seaside settlement reveals how and why it came to be, how the built interventions relate to the natural context and how this relates to the dominant cultural ideologies of the time. The demise of the Taylors Mistake settlement will also be interrogated and drawn into wider debate regarding the development of environmental paradigms. These findings will help inform considerations for the future of the city and architecture in the country. 1 FIGURE 2 Aerial Image of the Christchurch central city, revealing the prolifera on of vacant lots and en re empty blocks following the earthquakes. This photo was taken in July 2012, since then even more of the city has disappeared as part of the extended demoli on process. 2 FIGURE 3 The western end of the Taylors Mistake bach se lement, Hobson’s Bay, in 1926. FIGURE 4 The same area of Taylors Mistake in 2010. 3 Whilst grounded in this specific context, more far reaching ideas and values are explored. Our relationship with nature is important to address in light of the impact that the cycle of exploitation and consumption has had around the world. Global warming is real and is happening; the planet’s oil reserves are being exhausted and rampant development and pollution has had an irreversible ecological impact. Attitudes toward the environment need readdressing if we are to limit further destruction and find a way to live more responsibly on earth. In this way, addressing the past of a specific context to inform its responsible and appropriate growth may act as a model for the development of other places. The bach has been mythologised as New Zealand’s architectural origin, directly influencing many of the country’s most respected architects and their efforts to discover a national approach to architecture. This study explores the meaning of the bach and its relationship with the land and critiques the notion that it provides an honest and inclusive model in which to base a modern vernacular. Through this provocation, the entire narrative of New Zealand settlement may be reinterpreted and the course of architecture in the country redirected. Methodology This study weaves together some complex issues and narratives based on an in‐depth study of the literature pertaining to not only the bach and the ex‐urban environment of New Zealand, but to aesthetic theory, the picturesque, eighteenth and nineteenth century politics, colonisation, war, dwelling and modernity. Rather than containing a distinct literature review section, sources are introduced, referenced and critiqued throughout. Whilst many of the issues 4 discussed in this study have a history of analysis and critique, it is my aim to draw fresh connections and perspectives in order to produce a new understanding of cultural attitudes to living in the environment in New Zealand, significant now as Christchurch begins the process of reconstruction. Following this methodology, academic sources from a variety of periods and perspectives are analysed. In order to map out and understand the context, material from New Zealand relating to the bach, the landscape and Taylors Mistake is consulted. This includes formal, academic papers from well respected theorists and professors and informal and colloquial ‘coffee‐table’ books, magazines and documentaries. Historic Newspaper articles also help to better understand the values and attitudes of the bach dwellers throughout the settlements existence. In order to place and comprehend the influences on these attitudes, historic material important to the society of the time is reviewed and critiqued. Traditions are traced to their origin to reveal latent connections, relationships between places and movements and the correlations between particular interpretations and general human conditions. Paintings and photos, too, are analysed for what they reveal and reflect of society in New Zealand and Britain from the eighteenth century until the current time. Other secondary sources consulted and critiqued include the Christchurch Central Recovery Plan and other documentation from the Christchurch City Council and the Department of Conservation. 5 What follows is an exploration and meditation on a variety of ideas. The narrative drawn between them aims at