As an architecture exchange student from Copenhagen, Denmark, I have tried to get an impression of Wellington City from an architectural point of view during my reasonably short time here. One of the things that caught my attention, was the amount of space in the inner city that somehow still does not really show its spacial quality. At first I did not understand why I had this feeling of being in a very limited space, despite of the overall low height inner city buildings and open urban spaces. Then I realized that this was a result of a framing of the urban space from above by different electrical wires, power cables and the trolley bus lines that appears almost everywhere in the city centre.
The patterns of wires affect how I understand the urban spaces that I am discovering. They help me to navigate and understand the traffic flow (helpful as it in Denmark operates on the right side), and they point out central urban joints in the city, as their amount reflect the activity underneath. The perspective in a long street becomes more articulated by their framing and rhythm and they interact with existing patterns in their surroundings. In relation to this, I sometimes find that the wires as well compete with the balance in the patterns and structures in for example building façades. They are not only able to define space, but also to divide space and patterns without consideration for the role of building design, volume and hight.
In this assignment I will attempt to capture examples of the spacial and aesthetic interactions, confrontations and consequences of these elements in urban space.
