On the Move

Franz Josef/Waiau is a remote tourist town in Aotearoa New Zealand, exposed to earthquakes, landslides, floods, and storms. Carved out by an aggressively shifting landscape, the region’s dramatic beauty has been formed by the same events threatening the community. These risks and hazards persist after urgent attempts by local authorities to protect the town. This thesis builds on the existing discourse surrounding the future of Franz Josef, where the outlook for the town remains uncertain, lacking a clear proposition for future sustainability and longevity. By maintaining people and place at its heart, this research aims to explore ideas to relocate the Franz Josef township out of harm’s way and investigate the potential of architecture to provide an alternative, resilient future for the town. This research aims to critically engage with the social, cultural, and environmental contexts to test how a new architectural proposal can facilitate improvements to community resilience and maintain a sense of place for a town facing relocation. Using a research-through-design approach, this research investigated Franz Josef to generate a design response for a changing climate and landscape. The findings of this thesis contribute vital ideas to the future of planned relocation and managed retreat in the context of Aotearoa New Zealand, while challenging boundaries of resilient architecture. Ultimately, this research serves as an open-ended design proposal, where discussions about the future of planned relocation can be stimulated.