A Remediating Museum of the Manukau

The initial aim of the brief was to explore and challenge the notion of the museum within the context of the Manukau region; its history and culture. This project focuses on food and the diversity of the South Auckland community through a future-focused museum at Ambury Regional Park with the core aim of developing food sovereignty; acknowledging the past for the purpose of moving into the future, connecting people to the land through food and to food through the land. This is not a museum of static objects, but a place for active community engagement with a hands-on approach to education through interactive spaces set within the landscape. A living, breathing centre that facilitates new and old relationships, and encourages food security through un-earthing food heritage of the local area, (re)connecting people with the food they eat, and encouraging engagement with what the future of food could look like. The design is made up of two central buildings (a community hall and flexible cooking school/ restaurant) and six smaller pavilion-like spaces, each exploring a different aspect of food from cultivation and experimentation, to knowledge gathering and gratitude.