Megan's mates & Matariki
In the Matariki constellation, Pōhutukawa is a star associated with those who have passed away; a reminder of the connection between the living and the deceased.
The timing then for the Wellington branches of Tuia Pito Ora New Zealand Institute of Landscape Architects and Te Kāhui Whaihanga NZ Institute of Architects to join together, for the first time, in a City Talks event on the evening of 16 June dedicated to celebrated landscape architect Megan Wraight could not have been more fitting.
Megan's Mates: Musings & Memories - available to view here - was an occasion to reconnect with the bright-glowing wairua of Megan Wraight (12 December 1961 – 31 August 2020). It did so movingly, through the six contributory voices of Nicole Thompson, John Hardwick-Smith, Ralph Johns, Stu Farrant, Hugh Tennent and Jan Bieringa.
Jan Bieringa, John Hardwick-Smith, Ralph Johns, Stu Farrant, Hugh Tennent and Nicole Thompson.
At the un-sombre event's conclusion, Wraight+Associates mainstay Nicole Thompson commented that even a curated collective gathering like this could only bring out something like one percent of the memories of her freckly, red-haired friend who dared to dream.
As each person shared their recollections of lived moments with Megan a revelatory stream of descriptive word-pictures flowed: a real rabble rouser, enthusiastic changemaker, dynamic doer, a lover of follies and pranks, a master collaborator, serious and irreverent, fiercely competitive, an advocate for all things good, a fabulous and loyal friend.
John Hardwick-Smith of Athfield Architects spoke to Megan's special ability, wherever she went, to seek out "complementary hearts, skills, talents, personalities”.
Similarly to Ian 'Ath' Athfield (15 July 1940 – 16 January 2015), there was no holding back when it came to crossing disciplinary lanes and boundaries, coupled with a defence of strong design that was "next level". Hers was a tenacious zest for life that was, as John put it, "confronting to some, inspiring to others". It gave agency to people, spaces and places.
Ralph Johns added another lexical entry for Megan: "laidback intensity". Woven within the context of his indelible encounters with Megan from the viewpoints of landscape educator through to landscape entrepreneur, he owned how "really annoying" it was to witness at first-hand the winning ways of a landscape architect who made everything look easy - inspiring, affordable, buildable in equal measure.
Stu Tarrant, of Morphum Environmental, was first awed by Megan's deep passion for papatuanuku and her authenticity with plants and has stayed within that orbit of awe. Stu's enveloping kupu for Megan's loud and clear attitude to her mahi was "punk", calling it an ultimate compliment.
Hugh Tennent, NZIA's 2024 Gold Medal recipient with Ewan Brown, dove head first into his admiration of Megan's "wonderful confidence of thinking".
Echoing John Hardwick-Smith's appreciation of studio time spent with Megan in constructive "skirmish(es) of the pencils", Hugh also referred to "the dance of drawing on drawings". He too paid respect to Megan's botanical knowledge and capacity to form and shape landscapes.
Jan Bieringa, described by Nicole as a "patron saint of Wraight+Associates", shone a speculative light on what a lesser place the waterfront of Te Whanganui-a-Tara (and actuallyTāmaki Makaurau too) would now be without the imprint left behind by Megan.
Throughout the evening there was a narrative of the hard-won triumphs of projects as varied as work on the Suter art gallery in Nelson, Pukeahu War Memorial Park, the 'Andy Wharf Hole', and, naturally, the career defining Waitangi Park (to name but a few).
Ralph Jones typified Waitangi Park as work that testified to the "elegant, poetic, pragmatic response" delivered by Wraight+Associates. Hugh Tennent introduced other collaborations and his long association working with Megan in rural locations on how to nestle habitation into the landscape - as well as working together on unbuilt competition entries.
Organisers of the City Talks event for June 2025 included Nicole Thompson, Tina Williams for NZIA and Sophie Jacques for NZILA. Megan Wraight is pictured at left on the big-screen family shot seen here.
Megan's husband Paul and daughter Wawe, and her siblings Tim, John, Brenda and Erena Wraight were also present in the story telling, which laid out the sense that there are many stories yet to tell, stories that will grow not wither.
Kua Whetūrangihia Koe.
When Matariki rises, it's believed that the spirits of those who have passed are released and become stars in the night. With the thought, expressed by Ralph Johns, that "things just aren't the same without her", Megan's mates and admirers are looking to the sky and smiling.
In 2006, Megan received the International Federation of Landscape Architects award, one of the industry's highest international honours, and in 2013 she was the first landscape architect to receive the Arts Foundation of New Zealand Laureate Award. In Making Space - A History of New Zealand Women In Architecture (Massey University Press, 2022) writer Lucy Treep signals that Megan's reputation lives on through the excellence of her public space works and master-planning. The chapter this appears in is tellingly titled 'Forces of Nature'.