Kind Words...

Hi Matthew

Thanks for inviting me to critique your students in the Masters by Project candidature crit. I think the students had done a very good job of scoping their approach to research by design for the short time they had been engaged with their projects.  They clearly are focussed and are passionately interested in their topics.

Ngā Mihi | Regards, Sue
Sue Evans
Urban Design Manager From: Matt Riley [mailto:mattr@barker.co.nz] Sent: Wednesday, September 5, 2018 5:13 PM To: Academic Administration <academicadministration@unitec.ac.nz> Subject: Re: Thanks  Thanks Matthew.  Very much enjoyed attending.  Really great to see students focused on areas of inquiry so directly relevant to what is happening in Auckland now. These projects will be of interest to many practitioners/people operating in the Auckland wider built and landscape environment communities.

Great Work

Great success at the recent master’s workshop with three successful exams and a number of new research proposals. One of the most notably completed research projects was the design of a bioregional park in Mercury Bay to mark the Sestercentennial of Cooks voyage to New Zealand. The research showed how a new kind of park could be created that would not only improved the biodiversity of a region but also commemorate a critical event in NZ history. There were also a number of fascinating research proposals, including one that looks at the way a High Speed Train station might activate the liminal space between the Auckland CBD and the Parnell. The candidate drew on a personal history as a landscape architect and an urban designer in PR China and as part of a company with 100,000 employees!!! Other new projects include a research collaboration with Sue Wake, an internationally recognized researcher of children environments. The student will work with Sue to investigate the design of children’s space in the city.

Perhaps the most exciting research work is from Zihao Wang , a young landscape architecture graduate from Jinan who has developed a unique research methodology from such disparate and unlikely sources as Kevin’s Rowe collage city and  classical Chinese painting practice to explore the design of two important waterfront projects in Auckland, the Wynyard Quarter and the present Ports of Auckland. The latest design project an investigation of the Ports of Auckland site avoids the generic waterfront masterplan by grouping the residential programme into a ‘mountain range’ bordering Quay street, leaving the old port infrastructure as a field of landscapes.