This project begins with footage taken in 1965 by my grandfather at their old family bach at the Opihi River on the outskirts of Timaru, my hometown. Having been demolished a decade later, this building had a fleeting presence on the site.

Since then, the quality of the river and the surrounding plains has degraded rapidly through intensification of land use and demand for its natural resources.

‘In Tension’ explores this physical and mnemonic sense of loss through an architectural lens, unravelling the tensions held within the site.