Shining Light on Mary Jane – a chronicle of untold tales

A finalist for the 2019 Best Design Awards New Zealand, Student Spatial!!

4m x 1.5m pencil on canvas hand drawing

This design uses spatial narratives to bring to light the history of Mary Jane Bennett, the first and only woman lighthouse keeper in New Zealand, at Pencarrow Head Lighthouse in Wellington. The history of Mary Jane and her family are embedded into the site. Her untold tales are illuminated by constructing a subterranean chronicle that uses light to pierce through the landscape.
The designed spaces below ground correspond to the original buildings that sat alongside the lighthouse above ground, before they were demolished. There are four main rooms that transform a small section of Bennett’s history at Pencarrow into an atmospheric spatial experience for the public. The central pathway acts as a mechanism to unite the narrative and facilitate curiosity.

Unite – a transition space that leads the viewer back in time, with tension between going both closer and further away from the ‘light’.
Roxburgh – inspired by the Bennett family’s journey from England on the Duke of Roxburgh, to their destination, the first lighthouse cottage at Pencarrow Head.
Shelter – references the ‘cave-like’ structure the Bennett family used as their secondary shelter because the first cottage was barely wind or water resistant.
Being – a lonely, contemplation space for a working family.

For my final project at Massey University I created a pencil on canvas hand drawing based off my semester one ‘wonder wander’ research project.

If you want to see more about this project and the design process, you can view my project blog or a snapshot of my wonder wander research project.