Forming Ambiguity

With modern urbanisation, the demolition and redevelopment of cities and the overly rational division of urban functions have led to the complete destruction of the city's native cultural ecology and the loss of its naturally occurring hybridity. This thesis questions if the principle of ambiguity can play an active role in adapting to the evolving conditions of urban architecture.

 

This thesis critically examines the Western architectural theory of form and function, as represented by architect Louis Sullivan, in tandem with traditional Taoist philosophy and cultural aesthetics from East Asia. Through comparative investigations into the contemporary Japanese architectural methodology of ambiguousness, the thesis seeks to raise opportunities for architectural creation.

 

The central business district of Auckland is observed through a creative lens, where spatial form is driven by functionality, and the framework follows a logical sequence to maximise social production. Through iterated design developments via physical modelling, the design tests the alternative approach in a large-scale urban context. Form ambiguity in architecture embodies a new relationship between the building and its surroundings to accommodate inevitable change through time. It suggests no deliberate delineation of boundaries, using ambiguity as the driven principle to blend naturally with its context without the imposition of functional form. Spaces become freely layered, extending towards an endless horizon, creating progressive spatial depth without being completely divided. Blurred forms are used creatively in dialogue with publicness and in relation to the surrounding environment.

 

The thesis provokes inspiration for the ongoing practice of urban landscapes in the future. Through the exploration of architecturally ambiguous forms that test the simulation of the context, the configuration of phenomena, and the relationship between the place and the natural environment, this project aims to achieve symbiosis and interaction with the environment, rooted in regional land. This thesis shows that if form doesn’t follow function, we can still function in the form.