Victoria’s landscape architecture programme world-class
Victoria University of Wellington’s Landscape Architecture programme has been recognised at a prestigious international competition for producing world-class graduates.
The programme was placed second equal in the International Landscape Architecture Exhibition of University Projects at the 8th Biennial of Landscape Architecture in Barcelona, ahead of some of the most highly regarded architecture and design schools in the world.
The judges recognised Victoria’s focus on heritage. Professor Penny Allan, programme director, says one of the key threads in the students’ work is the natural and cultural heritage associated with bi-cultural design. Six of the nine projects entered were based on a collaborative relationship with Manaaki Taha Moana in the Horowhenua.
“Most people think of heritage as something from the past to be preserved, but the challenge is integrating what is significant in a contemporary way so that it becomes part of the fabric of everyday life. Spatial design can help us live with the natural and cultural environment in a productive and inspiring way,” she says.
One of the projects considered spaces to share inherited Māori knowledge, including community nurseries and gathering points to bring people together. Another looked to the future and how digital technology can enhance our interactions with the built environment. A third worked with flooding engineers to restructure the traditional stopbank flooding infrastructure of the Hutt River, introducing new residential areas with an intimate relationship to the river.
The competition attracted entries from 100 schools. The University of Toronto won the top prize and there were two honourable mentions alongside Victoria—Roma Tre University in Italy and the Oslo School of Architecture and Design in Norway.
The Biennial also hosts the prize for the top designed landscape in the world, the Rosa Barba prize. The winner this year was the Auckland Waterfront Project, designed in conjunction with Victoria University Senior Lecturer in Landscape Architecture Martin Bryant.