The New Zealand Institute of Landscape Architects (NZILA) announced their 2022 award winners on 13 October.
The Auckland Council Group - Auckland Transport, Eke Panuku, Tūpuna Maunga Authority and Auckland Council – was awarded two supreme awards, four category winner awards and four excellence awards.
Auckland Council Director of Infrastructure and Environmental Services Barry Potter attributes the outstanding outcomes achieved in these projects to “true partnership” with mana whenua.
“From early on in the projects, our mana whenua partners worked with the design teams to bring their knowledge and understanding of place to every level of design. Their contribution has ensured we are delivering uniquely Tāmaki Makaurau spaces for all to enjoy,” he says.
Te Wānanga, Quay Street. Credit: Isthmus
Te Wānanga, delivered by Auckland Council and Auckland Transport in partnership with mana whenua, was awarded the George Malcolm Supreme Award, recognising the most outstanding achievement in landscape design. The award was presented to Isthmus Group for the extraordinary new civic space extending over the city centre’s harbour edge.
Judge Dr Jacky Bowring described the “multi-layered, multi-experiential space” as a “real gift” to the city. “It’s a welcoming site. An educational presence. If you spend time, you’ll learn from being there,” she said.
An Eke Panuku enabled project was awarded the Charlie Challenger Supreme Award recognising the most outstanding achievement in landscape planning. The award was presented to Te Waiohua iwi, Eke Panuku and Resilio Studio for Te Whakaoranga o Te Puhinui: Te Rautaki, Te Puhinui Regeneration Strategy, which the award judges said was an outstanding example of processes around stream regeneration in south Auckland, within a wide cultural and natural setting.
Te Puhinui Regeneration Strategy – artist impression
Karen Wilson, Chair of Te Ākitai o Waiohua, says: “We pay tribute to and rejoice with iwi Māori, and mana whenua nationally and we acknowledge NZILA who continue to push the boundaries and the sea change within. We have committed to and bind to our partnership with Eke Panuku, and Resilio Studio.
“What an exciting challenge to now realise this plan for the communities of South Auckland and Te Puhinui,” she says.
In two categories – parks and urban design - the Auckland Council Group was ever-present.
Tūpuna Maunga Authority’s Maungawhau Tihi Boardwalk was awarded category winner honours in the parks category with Amey Daldy Park & Daldy Street Linear Park and Tank Park – Silo Park Extension winning excellence awards.
And in the urban design category, both winners came from the celebrated Downtown Programme: Te Wānanga was the category winner while Quay Street Upgrade won an excellence award.
Maungawhau / Mt Eden boardwalk. Credit: Isthmus
Te Wānanga sits on the seaward side of Quay Street; designed to reflect the feeling of being on a rocky tidal shelf, with apertures seeming like rock pools and steel balustrades styled like giant kina shells. The space takes its organic shape from the sandstone headlands of the Waitematā Harbour.
Director of the Downtown Programme for Auckland Council and Auckland Transport, Eric van Essen says: “This represents well-deserved recognition for projects that really have transformed Auckland’s waterfront.
“Auckland Council, Auckland Transport, the Downtown Joint Venture contractors, designers and mana whenua and their artists and advisers can all be incredibly proud of their achievements, which were made possible through strong partnerships and collaboration,” he says.
Te Wānanga, Quay Street. Credit: Isthmus
All of the Auckland Council Group projects featuring in the Awards last night are the product of collaborative ways of working alongside mana whenua. Design elements feature the work of Māori artists and hold mana whenua narratives, histories and values at their essence.
A commitment to ensure mana whenua see themselves more in our city centre’s urbanscape was made by Te Kaunihera o Tāmaki Makaurau / Auckland Council in 2018, and a recent audit has shown the visibility of Māori design markers has increased by more than 90 per cent in the last five years.
The joint winner of the He Iti Pounamu category, Te Maharatanga o Ngā Wai - remembering our waters, was an innovative partnership between Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei and Te Kaunihera o Tāmaki Makaurau / Auckland Council, remembering our urban waters
Scan a QR code on the side of two steel pourama (light columns) placed on the corner of Sale Street and Wellesley Street and hear a poem by celebrated New Zealand manu kōrero / poet Hone Tuwhare recited in both te reo Māori and English by the children of the young landscape architecture and urban design professionals who led this project.
Quay Street. Credit: LandLAB
Simon Oddie, Priority Location Director City Centre for Eke Panuku and Auckland Council, reflects: “To celebrate these accolades alongside our mana whenua partners is a real honour. It is our partnership with mana whenua that has enabled a real sense of place through the celebration of their stories, reflecting our unique place in the world.
“Over the last 10 years, Auckland has been transformed at a pace and scale unprecedented within our modern city’s short history; the built form of our city has been intensified, re-invented and re-imagined before our eyes,” he says.
To view what’s next as the City Centre Masterplan continues to provide the roadmap for Auckland’s city centre, click here. And for more on the regeneration of midtown click here.
Amey Daldy Park. Credit: LandLAB
2022 Resene New Zealand Institute of Landscape Architecture Award winners from the Auckland Council Group
Parks, Open Spaces and Recreation
Award of Excellence
Amey Daldy Park + Daldy Street Linear Park
LandLAB
Auckland Transport, Eke Panuku, Watercare
Award of Excellence
Tank Park
LandLAB
Eke Panuku
Tessa Harris, Reuben Kirkwood
Category Winner
Maungawhau Tihi Boardwalk
Isthmus
Tūpuna Maunga Authority, Tūpuna Taonga Trust, mana whenua, and with Stellar Projects and HEB Construction.
Civic and Urban Design
Award of Excellence
Quay Street Upgrade
LandLAB
City Centre Design Collective, Mana Whenua, and the Downtown Programme
Kāhui Kaiarataki
Auckland Council, Auckland Transport
Category Winner
Te Wānanga
Isthmus, as part of the City Centre Design Collective, in partnership with Mana Whenua and the Downtown Programme led by Auckland Transport and Auckland Council
Master Planning and Urban Design Strategy
Award of Excellence
City Centre Design Collective
Auckland Council in partnership with Mana Whenua and the Downtown Programme, led by Auckland Transport and Auckland Council
Category Winner
Te Whakaoranga o Te Puhinui: Te Rautaki | Te Puhinui Regeneration Strategy
Prepared by Resilio Studio, Eke Panuku, Te Waiohua – Ngaati Te Ata, Ngaati Tamaoho and Te Ākitai o Waiohua
With Support from Crank, Done Ltd, Healthy Waters, Jasmax, Johnnie Freeland, Mau Studio, Morphum Environmental, Native by Nature and WSP
He Iti Pounamu
Joint Category Winner
Te Maharatanga o Ngā Wai - remembering our waters
Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei and Te Kaunihera o Tāmaki Makaurau / Auckland Council
Supreme Awards
George Malcolm Award
Te Wānanga
Isthmus, as part of the City Centre Design Collective, in partnership with Mana Whenua and the Downtown Programme led by Auckland Transport and Auckland Council
Charlie Challenger Award
Te Whakaoranga o Te Puhinui: Te Rautaki | Te Puhinui Regeneration Strategy
Prepared by Resilio Studio, Eke Panuku, Te Waiohua – Ngaati Te Ata, Ngaati Tamaoho and Te Ākitai o Waiohua
With Support from Crank, Done Ltd, Healthy Waters, Jasmax, Johnnie Freeland, Mau Studio, Morphum Environmental, Native by Nature and WSP
