14 Oct 2022
Studio Pacific is delighted to announce that Eastern Porirua - People Changing Streets and Te Rau Karamu Marae Landscape received awards at the 2022 Tuia Pito Ora New Zealand Institute Landscape Architecture Awards in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland last week.
Eastern Porirua - People Changing Streets received an Award of Excellence in the He iti Pounamu category. The project provided for tactical solutions to solve community safety issues and improved public realm, designed through intensive community co-design workshops.
A huge congratulations to our client Porirua City Council, the contractors, collaborators and project team, including Isabella Cawthorn, Wesley Community Action, Halo Communications, Downer, and The Engine Room.
Judges’ Citation:
The Eastern Porirua - People Changing Streets project highlights the essential role of landscape architects working together with people in place.
Part of the Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency’s sponsored ‘Innovating Streets’ programme which was set up to deliver ‘tactical urbanism’ street interventions, this project is set within the Cannons Creek community.
The Studio Pacific Architecture team have demonstrated not only what can be achieved in terms of technical merit and formal expression but also the value of the landscape architect’s skillset in empowering communities to improve the places in which they live on their own terms and to uplift their own champions of place in the process. The installation comprises a series of interventions improving the street focussed on its pedestrian users - reducing traffic speeds through layout changes and re-prioritised spaces.
Proceeding on the sniff of an oily rag hasn’t dissuaded the delivery of a process where the values of local people have been communicated and delivered through effective tactical urbanism.
Learn more about the People Changing Streets projects here.
Te Rau Karamu Marae Landscape received an Award of Excellence in the Institutional and Commercial category. The success of the project has come from the collaboration of many. A massive congratulations to our client, Massey University Te Kunenga ki Purehuroa, Te Kāhui Toi, and Athfield Architects. We would also like to congratulate all other collaborators, contractors and consultants involved, including Te Kāhui Toi, Toi Rauwharangi College of Creative Arts, Leading Projects Ltd, The Garden Company, 4PlusFive Ltd, Threatened Plants and Partnerships, Zealandia Te Māra a Tāne and Andy Spain Photography.
Judges’ Citation:
Te Rau Karamu Marae is a seamless blend of architecture, hard landscape and soft landscape, and is an unexpected and exciting insertion into the Massey campus. Every element of this design serves a purpose, and the overarching purpose is to create a place of learning. The marae landscape is an expression of te ao Māori. Rakau have been positioned around the whare to support the kōrero within and the transmission of mātauranga Māori.
Plants were selected to showcase their many cultural values and uses, and to demonstrate the interconnectedness of all living things and to remind us of the importance of protecting and enhancing our natural environment. The Marae landscape has presence during both day and night, with a successful lighting design. Overall, the project is the product of a highly collaborative design process. The mātauranga which informs this concept was provided by Te Kāhui Toi and their toi Māori experts.
Te Rau Karamu Marae Landscape by Te Kāhui Toi, Athfield Architects and Studio Pacific Architecture with specialist planting input by Bart Cox and Terese McLeod.
Learn more about the Landscape and Planting Design of Te Rau Karamu Marae here.
Eastern Porirua - People Changing Streets
Te Rau Karamu Marae