Waitangi takes out top award

Hawke’s Bay’s Waitangi Regional Park and Atea a Rangi Star Compass has taken out the coveted landscape architecture Te Karanga o te Tui award.

The New Zealand Institue of Landscape Architects (NZILA) award was presented to Regional Council staff and consultants to recognise Waitangi’s unique character and design.

“[Waitangi Regional Park and Atea a Rangi] is quite simple in its form but it does quite a lot in the way it engages with things that are perhaps more invisible from day to day, things like celestial navigation and understanding of Maori cosmology,” says judge Dr Jacky Bowring. “The thing that set it apart was that it did a lot with a little in many ways, and it created quite a sublime experience.”

The park was developed over three years by Hawke’s Bay Regional Council, Ātea a Rangi Educational Trust, local iwi, consultants, and other partners to restore the coastal wetland and tidal channels, and provide an area for education on celestial navigation and te ao Māori.

Regional Council Open Spaces manager Russell Engelke says being recognised for developing a shared vision, fundraising, and building the park was fantastic.

“The local community and visitors enjoy and celebrate the area, and it’s great that it’s now been recognised on a national level with Te Karanga o te Tui award.”

“I’m proud to see our unique regional park recognised by these awards, and want to thank staff and consultants involved in the project up to now. We’ve got great plans for the future of this park, and it will only get better,” says Regional Council Chair Rex Graham.

Image: (L:R) Shannon Bray, Director of Wayfinder, Russell Engelke, Regional Council Team Leader Open Spaces, and Steve Cave, previous Regional Council Team Leader Open Spaces, with the award.

12 November 2019

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