Around the motu

Reset recently celebrated the opening of the new Ōpaheke Park in Papakura. In this contribution, experienced landscape architect and urban designer James Paxton reflects on the past, present and future of the project.

The announcement of the 2025 New Zealand Architecture Awards shortlist on 31 July featured Hayman Park Playground in the Planning and Urban Design category - a further recognition for the work of Athfield Architects and Wraight + Associates (Wā).

In a round-up of news from Tāmaki Makaurau, LAA highlights progress on the City Rail Link (CRL) the addition of ten sites of cultural significance to Auckland’s planning documents and a victory for the berm gardens created by Mark van Kaathoven.

Interest in the upcoming Adaptation Futures 2025 event - as alerted to LAA readers in June - is mounting. Including pre- and post-event ‘extras’ AF2025 will be up and running from Ōtautahi Christchurch between 12-17 October.

Four years into establishing his own landscape architecture company, Richard Neville worked on a project called the ‘Urban Orchard’ for the Heart Foundation. In this article Richard unpacks the values and principles that are guiding his practice and the way that small projects serve to signal bigger issues.

Landscape architecture skills featured heavily for the first time at ArchEngBuild - organised by BRANZ and Concrete NZ and held this year at the University of Auckland. LA student participants offer their points of view on what they gained from this special cross-disciplinary event.

‘Outsider’ Garth Falconer puts forward a set of ideas for reconsidering the structure of Cathedral Square in Ōtautahi Christchurch. His proposition consists of what he describes as a “series of practical moves that could breathe new life into this cherished civic space”.

Matariki this year fell neatly in the middle of the Tangaroa lunar period of 19-22 June, and has been widely marked around the motu. LAA has compiled a selection of happenings: the re-siting of Ngā Pou o Heretaunga to Hastings Civic Square, special plantings at Wellington Botanic Garden ki Paekākā and an exhibition at Cornwall Park called ‘Matariki Weather’.

Nik Kneale - who became a Fellow of Tuia Pito Ora New Zealand Institute of Landscape Architects in May - has been making his mark as a Landscape Architect for almost 25 years. Ōtautahi Christchurch is and always will be the place Nik journeys back and forth to, his ahi kā.

The timing for the Wellington branches of Tuia Pito Ora New Zealand Institute of Landscape Architects and Te Kāhui Whaihanga NZ Institute of Architects to collaborate on a City Talks event dedicated to remembering celebrated landscape architect Megan Wraight could not have been more fitting.

There are many colourful threads to the story behind Richard Bain’s deserved recognition as a Fellow of Tuia Pito Ora New Zealand Institute of Landscape Architects, as celebrated in May in Heretaunga Hastings on the night before the 2025 NZILA Firth Wānanga.

Two major global conference events will be held on our shores for the first time in 2025, starting with the International Adaptation Futures Conference (AF2025) in Ōtautahi Christchurch in October and then the International Conference on Urban Health (ICUH 2025) in Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington in November. Read our latest ‘events watch’ here.

SURVEY OPEN TO MONDAY 4 AUGUST: Maria Rodgers, a PhD candidate at Te Herenga Waka - Victoria University of Wellington, is seeking landscape architects to participate in a survey in the subject area of plants of place and identity - and the plants being planted in urban public spaces.   

Hastings District Council Mayor Sandra Hazlehurst - pictured above - provided a warm welcome to all those attending the NZILA Firth Wānanga on 22-23 May. “Small scale farmer” Alison Bentley of Tikitere Farm, has generously supplied her reflections as a first-time-ever participant, external to the landscape architecture profession.

This week Auckland Council announced that as of 1 July an Auckland Urban Development Office is being put in place. It will be responsible for driving integrated implementation and delivery of quality urban development in the council group’s identified growth priority areas and large-scale projects.

Josh Zeunert’s adventures in landscape architecture foreshadow the content of the exciting programme for this year’s NZILA Firth Wānanga 2025 being hosted in Heretaunga Hastings on 22-23 May. The countdown is on!

Pukeahu National War Memorial Park lives on as a precedent for the integration of infrastructure, the subtle layering of cultural and heritage values and the provision of open inner-city space.

World Landscape Architecture Month is a fitting time to reflect on the excellence of the work performed by landscape architects in Aotearoa New Zealand every year. This article is a reminder of the collective showcase of projects available to view, refer to and share from NZILA.co.nz