Open Access Te Herenga Waka-Victoria University of Wellington
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Painting Architecture

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thesis
posted on 2025-04-10, 04:45 authored by Natasja McHenry-van Veelen

This thesis explores the intersection of painting and architecture, using Napier as a site for inquiry. Despite a foundational influence, painting has been largely abandoned by contemporary architects. Art Deco, a style influenced partly by Cubism, with its geometric forms, traces one of its roots to painting. In this sense, Napier is a city shaped by many arts. This research uses Napier’s roots in painting as a vehicle to examine the role of painting within my creative processes and the potential painting has to enrich architecture.

Where might my painting practice lead me? How might it play out in the design of a new combined museum, theatre, and gallery? What could it mean for the city? I have used painting as a generator to merge the creative freedom I find in painting with architecture’s function through three design phases. Through site-responsive paintings, I distilled some of Napier’s architectural gestures into a language of abstract forms that informed my design process, drawing on approaches from modernist architects such as Le Corbusier and Barragán. Building on this, I explored this visual language through elemental arrangements and bold blocks of colour, expanding my approach to include collage, sketching, and digital modelling as complementary methods.

I found my use of space and colour are not separate but part of the same creative gesture, able to be formed into a unified expression. This project reveals colour as inherently spatial, not merely decorative. This transformed my perception of Napier from a city rooted in heritage to a place where creative disciplines can intersect, exploring the potential of cross-disciplinary practices to shape its future.

History

Copyright Date

2025-04-10

Date of Award

2025-04-10

Publisher

Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington

Rights License

Author Retains Copyright

Degree Discipline

Architecture

Degree Grantor

Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington

Degree Level

Masters

Degree Name

Master of Architecture (Professional)

ANZSRC Socio-Economic Outcome code

280122 Expanding knowledge in creative arts and writing studies

ANZSRC Type Of Activity code

4 Experimental research

Victoria University of Wellington Item Type

Awarded Research Masters Thesis

Language

en_NZ

Alternative Language

en_NZ

Victoria University of Wellington School

Wellington School of Architecture

Advisors

Kebbell, Sam