Winning landscape architecture project embraces bicultural values

An innovative research project about the role of landscape architecture in bicultural environments has netted a Victoria University of Wellington academic a prestigious award.

Royal spoonbills on Ōhau River beach
Royal spoonbills on Ōhau River beach, one of the ecosystems included in the Rae ki te Rae project.

Professor Penny Allan, the Programme Director for Landscape Architecture at Victoria’s School of Architecture, won the Te Karanga o te Tui award of excellence at the recent New Zealand Institute of Landscape Architects awards ceremony in Rotorua.

The winning entry, called Rae ki te Rae (meaning ‘face to face’), is a bicultural project carried out in collaboration with Manaaki Taha Moana (MTM), which is a research programme established to restore and enhance coastal ecosystems of importance to the Ngati Raukawa iwi in Horowhenua.

Professor Allan worked closely with Dr Huhana Smith from MTM, and the project was based on work she had done while teaching fourth year Landscape Architecture Design students. The students, MTM and the local hapū worked together to design practical restoration options for shoreline landscapes that are significant to the hapū.

“Rae ki te Rae started out as a simple studio project, but as it progressed it became clear there hadn’t been a lot of research done on bicultural design partnerships,” says Professor Allan. 

“So while we focused on finding specific design solutions in Horowhenua, we also enquired into the nature of design-based bicultural collaborations, setting up frameworks for it and adding to the body of knowledge that’s beginning to form around the role of landscape architecture in bicultural environments.”

The winning submission included two published essays, the project brief, the  body of student work and a response to 10 Māori  principles. The brief asks students to help local iwi reconnect to their ancestral landscapes. Students designed the settings for reinvigorated or invented cultural practices that would act as a catalyst for the regeneration of healthy ecosystems. They encouraged interdependencies. Examples included a campground that encourages bird life to flourish, a travelling community nursery with a space for telling stories about the regenerating landscape, and a series of small site-specific shelters for occupation during seasonal harvesting.  

Professor Allan says that the focus was less on physical outcomes and more on the potential for design to propose new methods of bi-cultural engagement. “The hope is that this might encourage a shift from the appropriation of Māori patterns and symbols towards a less token approach; one that integrates the rich knowledge base of two very different cultures on ‘more or less equal terms’ to solve some of this country’s most serious environmental challenges.”

The Te Karanga o te Tui award was presented for the first time this year, and aims to recognise work that engages and embraces Te Ao Māori. Competition judges said that Rae ki te Rae integrates cultural values rather than just motifs and, while specifically Māori, it remains accessible to everyone. They described it as “a beautifully crafted and important research project” which has a message that “…can transcend cultural boundaries, to be read and understood by all”.

Some of the students involved in the project also had their work recognised for its contribution to heritage when it was exhibited at the Barcelona Biennale International Exhibition of Landscape Design Works from Schools of Architecture and Landscape—their entry was awarded second equal place in a field of 100 entries. A paper about the project was also presented at the international art show, the Venice Biennale, in 2014.