The Reawakening - Symonds St. Cemetery - Luke Drumm

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Site Description: Neglected, unloved and feared by most, Symonds Street Cemetery lies in Grafton Gully between the end of Karangahape Road and Auckland Hospital. The cemetery is the final home for many of Auckland’s earliest settlers, although now it is used as a hideaway by the outcasts of society. Dense vegetation that is a mixture of exotic species and remnant coastal forest fills the site and drowns out the noise of the surrounding city, transporting one from the city to a forest.

Opened in 1842 the cemetery was originally located on the outskirts of Auckland City, but has since been engulfed by the expanding city. Now it is over-grown, people are scared to enter, and the people who are buried there are all but forgotten.

Hidden in Grafton Gully is remnant of coastal forest that predates European settlement, it is here that wild organisms make their home. William Hobson, Auckland’s first governor, is buried here and his grave is used as a hangout by drunkards, not receiving the respect it deserves.

The cemetery has been in a state of disrepair for far too long, this site needs to be awakened, life needs to be brought to a dead site.

Design Vision: Invite people back into a dangerous place, where nature holds out against the urban surroundings, homeless people seek sanctuary, where one is bombarded by emotions of amazement, sadness and fear.

The reawakening will bring to life a dead space, bring people back into a feared landscape to create a place where the dead and the living can coexist. This project will challenge our traditional idea of what a cemetery can be, and how we react to death and how we remember those who have gone before us.

Explore a landscape that can provide memorial for the dead as well as facilitate the needs of the living. A landscape that turns memorials into art forms, turns neglect into remembrance, a landscape where the dead and the living are both at home.