UPLIFTING TIMES AROUND THE MOTU

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Whiringa-ā-nuku | October 6
AROUND THE MOTU

Spring has brought quite the blossoming of opportunities for gathering together through the likes of the NZIA’s nationwide Aotearoa Festival of Architecture, and many other programmes of public-facing activity and activism such as the latest season of Critical Signals in Wellington.

In political news, the last week of business at Parliament in September saw the now-enacted Planning Act and Natural Environment Act (r)ushered through their last reading and last speeches - with many dissenting arguments put forward on the ‘devil in the details’. While politicians are now busily occupied on the Election hustings, bureaucrats at the Ministry for Cities, Environment, Regions and Transport will be monitoring inboxes for receipt of feedback on an illustrative National Policy Direction for the new legislative framework. This public engagement process is open until Friday 16 October.

Heading to Ōtautahi Christchurch?

Meanwhile, the excitement for this year’s Firth NZILA Wānanga - Ka Rū Ka Hā / Awaken the Energy - is building. Four weeks to go!

The 5-6 November programme for the two days of ideas, kōrero, connection and landscape can be viewed here.

The first day features international keynote speaker Alison Page, as well as Emeritus Professor Hirini Matunga (Ko Ngai Tahu, Kati Mamoe, Ngati Kahungunu, Rongowhakaata, Ngati Porou oku iwi) and Sybil Bloomfield of Huri te Ao, the School of Future Environments at AUT. Five field trips are on offer and day two will venture into the issues-driven topics of climate change and an exploration of the future-shaping influence landscape architects can wield alongside the expert mahi they do every day.

As well as naming rights partner Firth, and major partner Urban Group, the event is being supported in partnership with ACO, Boffa Miskell, Streetscape and Trees for Canterbury. Look out for our story on Trees for Canterbury nursery manager Laura Davison on the LAA website within the next fortnight.

Bruno Marques’ time leading the International Federation of Landscape Architects draws to a close

After two consecutive two-year terms as IFLA President, Dr Bruno Marques - seen at left above in Wellington with in May 2025 visiting academic Tim Waterman - will be passing on the rākau of this uniquely important international position after he makes his closing remarks to the 62nd IFLA World and Asia-Pacific Regional Congress 2026 in Hong Kong on Friday 30 October.

Bruno’s involvement with IFLA preceded his arrival from Europe to Te Herenga Waka Victoria University in 2014, where he has progressed up the academic career ladder from Lecturer to Associate Professor, and has been strongly influenced by Dr Diane Menzies who had served as IFLA President from 2006-2010 and was the first New Zealander to do so.

Bruno’s time leading IFLA has seen a strengthening of the organisation’s vision, mission and strategy. This has been underpinned by a packed set of action-orientated goals committed to since a historic IFLA Executive meeting in Istanbul in August 2024. Foundational goals were set that extended to aspirations for expanding membership and engagement, optimising organizational structure and operations, advancing professional standards and knowledge sharing, building a connected and collaborative community and contributing an impactful enhancement to global events.

The boy from the Portugese city of Setúbal has certainly come a long way (and he’s only a quadragenarian!).

Under new governance settings at IFLA Bruno will throughout 2027 continue to be active as IFLA’s designated Past-President, including a role in assisting with the dovetailing of next year’s IFLA Congress with ASLA’s conference in Chicago. This coincides with Bruno’s last year of multi-multi-tasking as Associate Dean of Academic Programmes at Te Herenga Waka. Then, and only then, will a much-deserved Sabbatical beckon.

To Bruno: Obrigado pelo seu serviço incrível! - thank you for your amazing service!

For a glimpse into Bruno’s globe-spanning life on the road as IFLA President, LAA recommends listening to an interview about COP16 broadcast on Radio NZ in 2024.
See also ‘From ‘Shared Wisdom in an Age of Change’ to ‘Code Red for Earth’

Sport New Zealand Ihi Aotearoa launches a new guide filled with practical guidance

Sport New Zealand Ihi Aotearoa has launched Every Body Active by Design, a new guide providing practical guidance for the planners, designers, engineers, councils, developers and other decision-makers who shape the places where people live, learn, work and play.

Developed in partnership with Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora, with expertise from Boffa Miskell and Ngā Aho and input from practitioners, mana whenua, government agencies and communities across Aotearoa, the guide brings together evidence, five Active Design Principles, 12 common approaches for different settings, and examples from across the motu.

At its heart is the idea that being active is not only about individual choices. The environments around us can make walking, wheeling, cycling, play and active recreation easier, safer and more enjoyable parts of everyday life.

For landscape architects, the guide provides another useful lens for thinking about how the design of places can support people and communities. It also connects active design with broader outcomes including healthier people, stronger communities, environmental sustainability, local economic vitality, and a stronger sense of identity and belonging.

Sport NZ will be joining Tuia Pito Ora New Zealand Institute of Landscape Architects at Ka Rū Ka Hā / Awaken the Energy, the Firth NZILA Wānanga 2026, for a Friday session exploring the new guide and the role of active design in shaping healthier, more connected places.

Explore the guide

Every Body Active by Design includes practical guidance, evidence and examples that can support planning, policy, design, investment and delivery decisions.

Explore the guide at activebydesign.org.nz

Opening the doors

At right: Architectural technician Jono Go talks to visitors to WSP’s Open Studio in Wellington on 25 September.

The opportunity to take part in the Open Studio aspect of the Aotearoa Festival of Architecture saw an uptick in foot traffic on our city streets around the motu. Landscape architects at various firms were on deck to host visitors, including recent Designgroup Stapleton Elliot recruit Shivani Patel (left above) and Studio Pacific Architecture’s fun-loving Stuart Dunn and new colleague Sarah Cantillon, graduate landscape architect (right above).

Events continue to take place. In Wellington for instance, these include an opportunity to discuss Waitangi Park on Thursday 15 October under the UPLIFT and ‘Living With’ banner (a festival within a festival wrangled together by NZIA Wellington chair Tina Williams).

An intensive design charette with postgraduate students in Landscape Architecture and Architecture at Te Herenga Waka Victoria University was held across two days of 29-30 September with a focus on the chosen location of Te Manawa (Porirua CBD).

*Ghada Elashi, Brendan MacFarlane and Carles Martinez-Almoyna Gual. Photo credit: Stephen Olsen*

Special guest Brendan MacFarlane, a New Zealander who co-founded Jakob+MacFarlane in France, worked side-by-side with Ghada Elashi, of the Natural Hazards Commission, and Carles Martinez-Almoyna Gual, Landscape Architecture lecturer to be available as needed for students. Essential support behind the scenes was provided by Carles’ colleagues Victoria Willocks and Nabil Allaf. This charette will be the subject of a longer article on LAA later this month.

Concurrently the industrial-sized common area at the university’s Te Aro campus has been the venue for a former Venice Biennale exhibition that is travelling with Brendan, and has been a site for further ‘Living With’ sessions, such as the one run this week by Mitra Homolja of Third Studio (above) on the challenges to the built-form posed by the rising waters of Aotearoa New Zealand.

Sticking with happenings at Te Herenga Waka Victoria University, LAA spent some time last week speaking with Imogen Fowler - an industrious student who is in her third year towards completing a double degree in Commerce (BComm) and Design Innovation (BDI).

When it came time to do her Communication Design capstone project, the direction that Imogen followed was to venture into creating a fold-up printed zine that refers readers on to a real-world website on the subject matter of biophilic design, under the title of Canopy.

Imogen: “I was inspired by my design research prerequisite which focused on high density living and the need to consider the need for communal green spaces to be included in urban city planning. I chose to interview an ecologist - Jacqueline Theis - and a landscape architect - Gary Marshall, of Resilio Studio. I was able to source images from Adam Luxton of Resilio, as well as from photographer Andy Spain”.

“I really enjoyed shining a light on local people and on the work done on Cohaus in Auckland and Ngā Mokopuna in Wellington”.

The website accompanying the physical zine can be found at canopy.myportfolio.com/

It was a pleasure meeting a savvy communicator like Imogen, and to appreciate her practising what it takes to publish, disseminate, promote and distribute a publication. “Those are skills that I think all students should have,” says Imogen.

For her fourth and final year of study in 2027 Imogen is looking to head to Europe via an institutional exchange scheme to either Denmark or The Netherlands.

As it happens she hasn’t met any landscape architecture students on the Te Aro or Te Auaha campuses yet, but perhaps Canopy might see some students from that discipline seeking her out for advice on communications design.

Editor’s note: Thank you to Bruno Marques for tipping us off about Imogen’s project. His quick comment on Imogen’s project is that it’s “wonderful and timely work”.

The image above shows Imogen’s finished Canopy next to a common A5 version of a zine, authored and produced by Mariam Khateeb. Massey University Press has published a lively book that tells the “Aotearoa zine story, from our first punk-rock music zine to the plethora of contemporary zinefests of today”. The book, by Bryce Galloway, is titled Zines - Punk to Present. Check it out here, or at your local library.

Bruno Marques leaves his mark on IFLA

Heading to Ōtautahi Christchurch?

Explore the guide