The Valley of Abandoned Dreams

In the rural landscapes of New Zealand lie rich and poignant tales of human trials and endeavours still recognisable by the abandoned architectural artefacts that have been reduced to ruins in their struggle with nature. These relics, released from their original function, lie dormant and crumbling, disappearing as rapidly as their brief history took place. This design-led research investigation proposes that new speculative architectural interventions can help safeguard the heritage stories associated with abandoned rural townships and their architectural artefacts before they have been completely lost from the records of time.

On the rural border between the Taranaki and Manawatu-Wanganui regions in New Zealand lie the ‘Forgotten World Highway’ and the ‘Valley of Abandoned Dreams’. The ‘Forgotten World Highway’ includes largely abandoned settlements connected by manufactured transportation routes such as State Highway 43 and the Stratford-Okahukura railway line. Located less than fifty kilometres east, the ‘Valley of Abandoned Dreams’ is a completely abandoned settlement along the Whanganui River. This natural river highway was pivotal to expanding the inner North Island rural settlements. Although relatively close, the two sites are separated by rolling hills, eroding cliffs, and overgrowing natural flora in a constant dialectical exchange between life and death. Each area is connected through a similar historical narrative and a large stretch of interwoven river ‘highways’ that branch between the coronary artery of the region, the Whanganui River.

This investigation asks how a speculative architectural design project can be used to enhance our awareness of important heritage stories of loss, such as the Forgotten World Highway and the Valley of Abandoned Dreams, to safeguard these tales for future generations. The principal research objectives are: 1) to explore how an architectural artefact in ruin can be identified as a participant in an overall narrative of place identity; 2) to explore how theory relating to curation can be used to enhance our awareness of important heritage narratives through sequencing of artefacts; and 3) to explore how theory relating to chronotopes can be used to enhance our awareness of important heritage narratives through the reconfiguration of spatial and temporal conditions.