Four Futures

The work of award-winning architectural graduates will be on show at an exhibition entitled Four Futures this month.

The four graduates from the School of Architecture and Planning at the University of Auckland – Raimana Jones, Zee Shake Lee, Natalee Yee Wei Tan and Norman Wei – will display their thesis projects at the exhibition, hosted at Auckland’s George Fraser Gallery between 18-28 March.

Raimana Jones won the student category of the Auckland Architecture Association (AAA) Visionary Architecture Awards 2014, as well as being a finalist in the New Zealand Institute of Architects (NZIA) Graphisoft Student Design Award, with his project that redesigned the traffic-heavy centre of his home suburb of Royal Oak. Called Architecture of Co-existence: Regenerating Royal Oak through Urban Acupuncture, the AAA judge’s citation described it as “a rich and intricate arrangement of spaces and uses that invites exploration”.

Zee Shake Lee was also a finalist in the NZIA Graphisoft Student Design Award with his five architectural propositions to redevelop the eccentric site of the Three Kings volcanoes in Auckland, which have been extensively damaged following decades of quarrying. Moving Grounds: Irrupting Three Kings Inverted Volcanoes, went on to win Gold at the 2014 Taipei Tech International Student Design Competition ahead of hundreds of other entries from around the world.

Natalee Yee Wei Tan was a finalist in the NZIA Graphisoft Student Design Award with her project Rotovegas: Playground of Flux, which melded speed and play with urban infrastructure to produce a hyper-real version of the tourist playground of Rotorua. An amalgam of real and imaginary spaces including drive-through cinemas; hotels; car parks; skate parks and a waterpark, Natalee’s design, rendered in sulpher-yellow, scooped Silver at the 2014 Taipei Tech International Student Design Competition, and a Grand Prize in the Unbuilt Visions 2014 Awards.

Norman Wei received Highly Commended at the NZIA Graphisoft Student Design Awards with his project Super-Pacific City: The Saga of Lomipeau. Inspired by Tongan mythology his work tackled the issue of global warming by creating a floating Pacific city. The awards jury described Norman’s project as an “inventive and exuberant scheme which stretched well beyond the Islands to the shores of Asia and was an ingenious and optimistic scenario”. His design went on to receive a Special Mention in the Unbuilt Visions 2014 Awards.