Comfortable contemplation

Through the design of memorial baths on the West Coast, this thesis proposes that through an increased understanding and interpretation of place identity, memorialisation can precipitate a process of understanding and healing. This process leads the visitor to gain a heightened level of mental wellbeing.  This research sheds light on, and provides an alternative to, the present state of memorials in New Zealand, identifying them as places to heal. It provides a solution of a memorial that connects people, their thoughts and memories to architecture. This is achieved through the application of the Kessler – Kübler-Ross model by facilitating participants’ experience of grief through the bargaining, depression and acceptance stages.  This thesis proposes an architectural solution that sufficiently memorializes lost gold miners of the West Coast and their way of life. It also enquires into the somewhat aberrant architectural culture and identity of the West Coast and identifies methods of preserving this architectural regionalism before it is lost. This quickly disappearing West Coast identity and architectural regionalism becomes a further stimulant for memorialisation. The architectural form and composition respond to mining history and the miner’s way of life.  This memorial, located deep within the Southern Alps hosts a series of natural thermal baths and contemplative spaces that prompt reflection and inner thought, transporting the visitor toward an improved level of mental wellbeing through a means of triggering memory, and providing spaces that prompt contemplation.