Perfect Imperfection: Finding Beauty in the Broken

This thesis explores the notion of designing to capitalise on past decay through revitalisation of the former Wood Brother’s Flour Mill in Addington, Christchurch (1891). Known as one of the city’s last great industrial buildings, the structure remains hugely impressive due to its sheer size and scale despite being subject to earthquake damage, abandonment and vandalism for a number of years.

 

In offering a challenge to renovation and reconstruction as a means of conservation, this thesis asks if ‘doing less’ has the potential to ‘do more’. How can an understanding of architecture as an ongoing process inform a design approach to celebrate ageing and patina? Research into the traditional Japanese ideology of wabi-sabi and its practical applications form the basis for a regenerative design approach which finds value in imperfection, impermanence and incompleteness. 

 

This thesis shows that adaptive reuse projects can benefit from an active collaboration with the processes of decay. Instead of a mindset where an architectural work is considered the finished article upon completion of construction, a sensitive design philosophy is employed in which careful thought is given to the continued preservation and evolution of a structure with the recognition that evidence of past wear, tear, patina and weathering can all contribute positively to a building’s future.