The installation is the result of a collaborative project, Re-imagine Tory Street, undertaken in partnership between Wellington City Council and Victoria University, which aimed to create an engaging space in one of the streets affected by the 2016 earthquake that saw several buildings on the street damaged, leading to businesses and people moving out of the area.
The idea behind the competition is for the space to be “recolonised” by community groups and people allowing them to use the area in new ways.
The winning concept, titled It's Tory Time, was developed by seven students in Victoria University’s Landscape Architecture programme, and draws on the history of lower Tory Street as part of Te Aro Pā and its former natural landscape.
Thirty-three planter boxes with native plants, ranging from inland to coastal, have been installed on the street, along with several seated areas, and platforms at different levels create stage-like spaces that could be used for small community events, and information panels to provide information about the history of the area as well as the concept itself.
For the students who developed the winning design, it’s been an excellent opportunity to bring to life a collaborative concept, says the students’ lecturer Carles Martinez-Almoyna Gual.
“The partnership with Wellington City Council has been a valuable experience for working with local government. Students have worked with groups, including the council nurseries at Otari Wilton’s-Bush and Berhampore, to turn the concept into reality.”
He says community involvement has also been central and lies at the heart of the project. The design process has involved workshops and input from businesses and residents in the Tory Street area.
Mr Martinez-Almoyna Gual emphasises the importance of the participatory approach for creating a design that will, “involve the users, the people who live and work there, and allows the university to participate in new ways of decision-making and develop design ideas that will be implemented.”
The installation will be in place for three months.
“We are wanting to trial ideas,” says Emily Alleway from Wellington City Council. “We are keen to get feedback from people who live, work or use the street and lots of what we are putting in can be re-used.”
Over the three months there will be opportunities for public feedback, including comment postcards available on Tory Street and through the Council website.
It’s Tory Time will be officially launched in a public event with the Mayor on Wednesday 4 April at 12pm. A second event for all those involved in the project—including students and the community—will be held on 6 April from 3pm.