April Workshop

Congratulations to student supervisors and invited critics for making the inaugural 2014 MbP workshop a great success. The day kicked off with Master of Landscape Architecture candidate Betsy Kettle successful exam. Betsy’s research work explored the ways in which waste recycling could become part of our everyday lives. This was a great piece of research, firmly grounded in contemporary thinking and practice; the research developed a number of planning tools for both site selection and site organisation. These tools are about to be tested by Betsy with the initiation of a joint Unitec /Auckland Council research project in to innovative waste recycling techniques. Special thanks to our distinguished examiners; Dennis Scott, past president of the NZILA and Will Thresher, fellow of the NZILA, and convenor, architectural historian Kerry Francis. Thanks also to Betsy’s supervisory team, Daniel Irving and Renee Davies for their fanatic work in helping Betsy shape and focus the work.

Three Master of Architecture presentations followed in our new HQ, Building Two. Maurits Kelderman, Eloise Veber, and Matt Brown presented their research work to a panel of critics drawn from practice and academia. Albert Refiti, a senior lecturer in spatial design at AUT University, Juan Molina, a senior architect and urban designer at CPRW Fisher, John Coop, regional director of Warren and Mahoney’s Auckland studio, and John Walsh, communications manager of the New Zealand Institute of Architects. Maurits presented his design project; Te Whare Wananga o Haoni Waititi. Perhaps it was standing around the amazing model that Maurits had made of the whole Hoani Waititi complex, but we had one of the widest ranging and stimulating discussion about the implications of Maurits radical site organisation. The panel’s questions revolved around Maurits creation of a double atea and the implications of this action. Eloise was next with her project; Meeting at the edge, how would we design Te Papa today? Eloise’s pursuit of the great white whale of NZ architecture, Te Papa, had moved on from her last presentation, a considered exploration of the Arthur Erikson Museum of Anthropology in Vancouver to start to explore how a new national museum might be situated within the native landscape in particular the coast. The panel helped Eloise explore some of the implications of the littoral in the design of a new Te Papa. Mathew Brown project, a way of looking: The architecture of Rudolph Schindler, through an alternate lens was the last of the morning. Mat’s presentation of one part of his project, the uses of a particular representation system, comics to present and represent architecture was a contentious issue for the panel, which tested the continued connection to the work of Rudolph Schindler.

After a shared lunch with invited guests Dean Leon Fourie and HOD Renee Davis we launched into the afternoon session with two new candidate presentations from Raewyn Bevis Davises and Rithy Heng, followed by presentations by Master of Landscape Architecture students; Grace He, Grace Warne, and Helen Frances. They were quizzed by Russell Baikie, senior principal, Harrison Grierson, Stuart Houghton, urban designer, associate principal, Boffa Miskell, Steve Mason, marketing specialist, and Juan Molina a senior architect and urban designer at CPRW Fisher.

Raewyn kicked off the afternoon with the presentation of her initial research project question, the exploration of what new forms of landscape and urbanism might be generated by the advocating of decentralised and coupled water infrastructure. Raewyn project was followed by Rithy Se Heng candidature proposal. Rithy is an architect from Cambodia on a Ministry of Foreign affairs scholarship. Rithy’s project; Urban Renewal in Cambodia, Case study: Phnom Penh Park presented three sites for design investigation. The panel was interested in the urban phenomenon of Phnom Penh and suggested that a New Zealand urban/park study would help Rithy frame his research work. Grace He, an experience landscape architect from Isthmus followed presented her work; Multi Culturalism in the Urban Landscape. Grace is interested in how can urban designers work with the insights of multiculturalism to create a new kind of inclusive public space in a city. The panel were intrigued with Grace's proposition, an extremely important field of research, but could see the difficulties in advancing the work given the complex and difficult nature of the site that Grace had chosen.

After the break Grace Warne presented her research work, Sustainable Industrial Landscape. Grace is interested in how can landscape architects advance sustainable industrial practice through social engagement. Grace's presentation was limited to a detailed discussion addressing comments from a previous workshop. The last presentation of the day was Helen Frances. Helen’s work is titled; at the confluence: heritage, rivers and walking. Helens research question is, how can a riverside walkway be designed to meet the needs of multiple stakeholders, in a site that is rich in heritage. Helen presented a comprehensive group of drawings that explored in detail different sections of the riverside walk. The panel appreciated the work Helen had done, enabling the panel to fully test Helen’s ideas against the design work. The panel considered that now was the time for Helen to pull back , to ‘take a helicopter view ‘ of the whole site and consider whether the individual design moves made sense.