Tensions

An exhibition of postgraduate architectural design work from the School of Architecture and Planning - projecting visions of how the Confucius Institute might be accommodated on the University of Auckland's City campus.

The Confucius Institute’s mandate is “To provide a platform, a physical centre which will act as a cultural interface between China and New Zealand, providing opportunities for engagement.” The Institute approached the School with the opportunity of developing an architectural aspect to this end.

There exists a tension between the intent of this mandate and the gritty realities of current international trade and business practices, a tension which is compounded by the global environmental crisis, social inequities and the erasure of cultural differences. In other words, there exists a tension between abstract intent and material practice, a tension which has direct parallels in architectural design practice. It is this set of tensions which are thematic to the work to be presented. The projects to be shown are those that explore the theme through integrated response to architectural concerns running from concept to context to detail, or in other words, from the abstract to the material.

Open: 10am - 5pm, 25 August 2010 to 28 August 2010
Preview: Tuesday 24th August, 5:30-7pm
Closing event: Friday 27th August, 5:30-7pm