Giving Structure a Shake Up: Integrating Seismic Upgrades into Interior Architecture
Wellington has a problem. It’s built environment contains a high number of earthquake prone buildings which, in an earthquake prone environment, is concerning. These buildings create unsafe and dangerous spaces, and pose an immense risk to locals. The longer they sit under strengthened, the longer they pose an immense risk if a major earthquake were to strike. Building owners can be reluctant to undergo the necessary strengthening due to high costs, and the difficult process. This only adds to the problem. This problem is only enhanced by current strengthening measures causing issues in building interiors. Interiors get directly impacted by implemented seismic structure, losing space, light, views, and function. An interior perspective and integration with seismic design can present better opportunities for better interiors.
Not only are these buildings earthquake prone, but also heritage listed. Buildings can possess a heritage listing due to their historical or cultural values and, due to construction technologies at the time these were built, many are also unsafe and require retrofitting. Heritage buildings possess significant tangible and intangible values, many of which have been hidden underneath poor care or modern adaptations. Wellington’s building stock has many under-utilised heritage buildings, and there’s opportunity to revitalise these through integration with interior architecture and seismic design. Creating a hybrid interior-seismic-heritage integrated design process can allow functional, meaningful, safe, and historical interior spaces. Spaces that can begin to restore the disregarded built environment in Wellington.
To achieve this, the thesis takes two earthquake prone, heritage buildings in Wellington. Using a design led research approach, these two sites are retrofitted and tested to explore the validity of an interior-seismic-heritage integrated design process. The design aims to integrate seismic structures with proposed interiors, including various programmes and heritage narratives. The design outcomes display the vast opportunities of considering this process. Concluding that there’s validity to structure being internal instead of external, having clear heritage tactics, defining new and existing elements, and treating each project individually are key to a successful design process. This thesis displays the applicability of interior focused architecture when engaging in heritage and seismic projects. Interior architecture as the key perspective.
