Kingsland Design Competition - Winner Announced

Images of Dustyn O'leary's Winning Design Entry

Five entries from Unitec BLA students were entered into the Kingsland Design Competition.  Entries were made from Andrea Reid, Dustyn O'leary, Nicola Gainsford/Liam Winterton, Al Newsome/Luke Veldhuizen and Shirish Prasad/Sharook Waedueramae.  The judging was close, but the winning design chosen by the judging panel was by 4th year student Dustyn O'leary.

The competition registrar Christine Foley from the Kingsland Business Society said the following about the designs "We have been impressed by the high standard of the entries, which presented creative ideas that were exciting and Innovative".

The concept behind Dusty's design was to "give an element of design control back to the space's most regular users and to enable both the Alsco business employees and the Kingsland community to have a higher level of influence over their use and experience of the pocket park.  Within the concept there is the potential for a monthly public-private collaborative event where employees and management from Alsco along with general community members and the Business Association can be involved in re-shaping the site.  As such the layout, use and appearance of the pocket park will regularly change, reflecting the changing nature of the area's heritage, generating longer-term interest in the pocket park and increasing the sense of ownership over the space".

The purpose of the competition is the creation of Kingsland's first urban shared-use pocket park that enhances the value and usage of Alsco's adjoining property at 354-362 New North Road, Kingsland.

The competition was an initiative of the Kingsland Business Society Ltd with support from the Albert-Eden Ward of Auckland Council and the site owners Alsco.  Ian Vincent from Urbanlogic ran the design competition and mentored the student groups through the design process on behalf of the client, Alsco.  A budget of $20,000 has been allocated to implement the pocket park concept and was one of the design challenges.

You can view copies of all the beautiful and innovative pocket park designs done by the students at the following link:

View Student Entries for the Competition

Onepoto Domain Design Explorations

Group 1 Perspective of Design Option by Jonathan Cristal

Third year BLA students from the course Urban Ecology run by Renee Davies produced two very well received design options for the local community group (Onepoto Residents Association - ORA) and Council for a recreational and wetland enhancement project at Onepoto Domain.   ORA have chosen a preferred design option which students will now work with Council and ORA to refine and submit to the local Community Board for adoption and staged implementation over time.

The design outcomes can be viewed at the Unitec ISSUU page:

Link to Student Work on Department ISSUU page

The project aims were  to prepare a range of design options for the development of the remaining weed-infested pampas area at Onepoto Domain.

The intention at Unitec is that students are integrated into real scenarios that enable them to explore the principles being taught within the course and apply them in practical and innovative ways.  The project at Onepoto Domain offered a unique opportunity for students to work within a real site with ecological challenges and to explore human, plant and other ecological interactions to develop appropriate design responses.

"The first lore of ecology is everything is that everything is related to everything else."  Barry Commoner

The project for Onepoto Domain was developed through a compulsory third year paper titled Urban Ecology.  Within this course students explore the concepts of ecology within the unique urban environment of Cities and what the term Urban Ecology means and how important an understanding of the interactions and systems that are a part of our urban environments play in our role as designers.  

For the Onepoto Domain project the students worked with the local community representatives and experts from Auckland Council and Unitec lecturers to develop a comprehensive ecological assessment and design outcomes report that identified a way forward for this area of Onepoto Domain.

South-West Auckland Green Infrastructure Network

Third Year Studio Bachelor of Landscape Architecture 2014 – collaboration with Boffa Miskell Auckland

(Post by Peter Griffiths)

In semester two of 2014 Unitec third year landscape architecture students engaged in a project co taught by Pete Griffiths from Unitec and Heather Docherty from Boffa Miskell, Auckland.  Boffa Miskell has a research focus on strengthening the relationship between the built environment and ecological systems; particularly how to ensure landscapes which have been enhanced, restored or implemented as part of mitigation packages for works undertaken can provide long-lasting values to the communities which it serves. As part of this research focus the firm is interested in developing ideas around green infrastructure becoming a central and driving force behind major roading, community, public works and expansion projects. 

Boffa Miskell is heavily involved in a number of large-scale publicly funded projects, which are currently being planned, are consented or being undertaken as the link between the south and west regions of Auckland is developed.  Central to this development is the $1.4 billion Waterview Connection project, the largest roading project ever undertaken in New Zealand. It involves construction of 4.8km of six-lane motorway to link State Highways 16 and 20, completing the Western Ring Route (WRR) first proposed in the 1950’s.

Concurrently, there is desire from within local communities and advocacy groups to create networks across the city that are not dependent on the use of private motor vehicles. The Greenways Project was established to lobby Auckland Council to improve safe and pleasant cycling and walking by evaluating, mapping and protecting the network of green spaces across Auckland. Several Local Boards have taken up initiatives to achieve this vision.

While the final piece of the WRR is progressive for a grey infrastructure project, incorporating cycle ways, public amenity and ecological enhancement, these aspects which benefit non-road users are provided largely as mitigation for the community severance and disturbance that the project creates.

The investment in these mitigation works could have been maximised further had there been a cohesive catchment-wide green infrastructure strategy and plan, which addresses the area from the Upper Manukau Harbour to Waterview.

If there was a strategic Green Infrastructure Plan for Auckland, how would the outcomes of these projects change? How can we best connect these major works, which all have potential benefits to share across the region if they were safely and easily accessible? In what way could these links contribute towards a better-connected Auckland for all social, cultural and ecological communities?

Students were asked to develop a series of drawings that communicate and display strategic thinking at a large scale, based on data and information gathered.  This strategy would then be then interpreted into a formal and spatial concept for a site along the state highway 20 route.

Students delivered projects ranging from bee pollination corridors to predator proof fenced public spaces for the growing of endangered plants.  Other strategies included, bringing back historical swamps to the area and developing comprehensive urban agriculture networks.

Boffa Miskell kindly invited students to present their work on Friday 5^th September over drinks and nibble at the Auckland Office. Students were able to explain their work to ecologists, urban designers and landscape architects.

Work by student Aynsley Cisaria

Aynsley's project explored a community farm development

Concept plan for development

Heather Docherty from Boffa Miskell was the studio
guest practitioner

X-section team promoting this years journal

Exhibition at Boffa Miskell was well attended

Graduate News

Vicki Barrett and supported by her 2 daughters at Powhiri

(Posted by Penny Cliffin)

Vicky Barrett was welcomed onto the staff as the community gardens coordinator at CCS Disability Action in Royal Oak recently. Penny Cliffin represented the Department at the powhiri for Vicky, our Diploma in Landscape Design graduate. Two other graduates from the mid 90’s were also there in support of Vicky, showing that the ties formed in our classes really last the distance! Penny hopes to develop a collaborative design project for the gardens with Vicky in the future.

Students Present at NZILA Auckland Branch Event

(Post by Peter Griffiths)   The Unitec X-section journal team presented at the annual 2x2 event held by the NZILA Auckland Branch on the 6th August.  The team was there to encourage industry contributions to the journal - which aims to present a collaborative student/staff/industry view on this year's topic of Exchange.  We look forward to exciting things to come from this years journal.