Around the motu
The countdown to the Adaptation Futures conference from 13 to 16 October at the Te Pae Christchurch Convention Centre in Ōtautahi Christchurch is almost over. It will have all the elements of a UN-level gathering and will put issues and expertise from Aotearoa New Zealand on a world-level stage.
Given the range of conjoined events that it brings together - from speaker events to exhibitions - the NZIA’s Aotearoa Festival of Architecture is an illustration of the power of both diversity an collaboration; deserving of being captured for and promoted to a wider audience.
Boffa Miskell’s Mark Brown has been working on a ‘retrospective’ that highlights the recovery and rejuvenation of Ōtautahi Christchurch. To begin with he has written a first person perspective on the immediate aftermath of the Canterbury Earthquakes, now nearing their 15th anniversary.
Work by Isthmus and Boffa Miskell took centre stage at the awards night of the Resource Management Law Conference held in Marlborough in September. Issues and topics brought to the fore at the annual event sparked “courageous kōrero”.
The Aotearoa Festival of Architecture 2025 is putting an extra spring in the step of all forms of architectural practice around the motu this September, with a diverse programme that in its first week incorporated an NZILA Branch event featuring Dr Emily Afoa, Marty Andrews and Will Hatton.
If you're still looking for ways to engage with Conservation Week (1-7 September) this short film - fronted by conservationist Sam 'The Trap Man' Gibson and backed by Pure Advantage - will definitely assist.
Sian Reynolds, of Boffa Miskell’s Biosecurity team, rings an alarm bell that without adequate investment in a wilding conifer programme “we risk undoing years of gains, allowing these pests to reclaim ground we’ve already fought to protect”.
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.