It was fitting that a designers talk at Te Rimutahi kicked off 2026 for the New Zealand Institute of Landscape Architects Tuia Pito Ora Tāmaki Makaurau on 29 January.

Te Rimutahi is a new hybrid civic space in Ponsonby at the heart of one of Auckland’s foremost retail and dining precincts. It’s a project shaped by more than a decade of community advocacy, demonstrating how public space can be reimagined and delivered through local leadership, creating lasting social and environmental value.

The NZILA event attracted a sizeable turnout, who gathered under the site’s repurposed canopy structure to take cover from the beating sun and listen to project lead Sam Gould and Bela Grimsdale of LandLAB as well as Jen Ward of the community led design group kōrero about the project.

Adaptive reuse at its core

Formerly occupied by an ageing retail building and surface carpark the project weaves together street (urban) and park (green), transforming the site into a flexible civic hub with adaptive reuse at its core.

Rather than clear and rebuild, the design works with what existed, restructuring it through a simple yet spatially rich sequence of interwoven internal and external public spaces.

Sam Gould talked to the urban canopy’s role within the project: “Recognising the opportunity in our winning competition scheme, the adaptation of the existing vehicle canopy became the project’s key site infrastructure — delivering civic performance, shade plus occupation, water harvesting and solar generation in one move”.

Narratives, principles and cultural design opportunities were developed for Te Rimutahi through engagement with Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei and Ngāti Te Ata Waiohua.

Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei gifted the name which recalls the lone rimu tree that once marked and named this significant ridgeline — part of an important traditional walking route linking Maungawhau and Te Ōka pā.

In embedding this significant kōrero the mahi of Graham Tipene (Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei) is prominently seen in the seven-metre-high vertical marker at the street edge, reinterpreting the rimu as a piece of contemporary civic infrastructure and reinstating this cultural presence along the ridgeline.

A raw and elemental material palette consisting of galvanised steel, natural stone, timber and concrete support the project’s adaptive reuse identity.

Careful layering of colour has been used to code newly fabricated steel elements in amongst the site’s existing steel componentry.

Through adaptive reuse, integrated stormwater harvesting, renewable energy generation and considered material expression, Te Rimutahi establishes a robust and sustainable civic framework.

The plaza reinforces Ponsonby’s identity through demonstrating an integrated approach to environmental, cultural, and social sustainability.

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The urban canopy harvests rainwater into an underground storage tank, supplying the site’s irrigation demands and reducing potable water use.
Photovoltaic panels integrated into the canopy roof generate solar energy that feeds back into the grid, making the project’s sustainability performance visible to the public.
The 615m2 of new planting introduces habitat biodiversity while reducing the site's impervious surface area by 38%.
An abandoned Auckland Council toilet block has been repurposed within the plaza, its exterior reclad in timber to integrate it with the new public realm.
The original building floor slab has been retained, with a new topping slab poured above to resolve drainage levels, unify surface conditions across the plaza.

Project Credits

Lead Consultant: LandLAB
Collaborators:
- Te Rimutahi Community Led Design Group
- Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei - Mervyn Kerehoma & Graham Tipene
- Ngāti Te Ata Waiohua - Paora Puru
- Beca – Civil Engineering, Structural Engineering, Lighting
Client: Auckland Council

Te Rimutahi: An outstanding new neighbourhood feature

Adaptive reuse at its core

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Project Credits

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