Reimagining the heart of Wellington
Two Victoria University landscape architecture students could be heading to Los Angeles after their design to rip up Wellington’s Basin Reserve and restore it as a wetland was shortlisted for an international student design award.
William Rei-Paku Hatton and Yousr Ali were selected for the AECOM Urban SOS award for their fourth-year landscape architecture assignment in which they were tasked with redesigning the central city space between the Basin Reserve and Wellington Hospital.
The pair envisioned turning the area from ‘‘a total mess’’ into a waterway and green space, returning it to its origins.
The top three finalists will be announced at the end of the month and flown to LA to present their designs and receive a share of US$15,000 in prize money.
The United States-based engineering design firm runs the student competition each year to solve challenges facing cities.
The Kiwi pair are amongst 16 semi-finalists selected from 200 entries worldwide.
Ali said the design was inspired by the history of the area that was once a ‘‘super diverse place which was a hub of culture and food production’’. However, the area had become a forgotten and congested urban space.
‘‘It is one of those places that is just kind of in the ‘leftovers’ pile. It
‘‘It is one of those places that is just kind of in the ‘leftovers’ pile. It is a space that definitely has potential ...’’ Victoria University student Yousr Ali
is a space that definitely has potential ... but is currently dilapidated under-used and underserviced.’’
Her team decided to ‘‘daylight’’ the buried Waitangi stream that sits about seven metres underneath Adelaide Rd and Kent Tce encased in clay brick.
The stream would run through and replace that ‘‘horrible cricket pitch’’ – better known as the Basin Reserve – and a portion of Adelaide Rd, connecting Wellington Hospital to the waterfront.
Although taking out roads and expanding the green space in an already busy area may seem counter-intuitive, Ali said the design was all about ‘‘quality of life’’.
The revived waterway would connect people of urban Wellington to Maori history and culture of the area, Ali said.
A total of 15 students redesigned the Basin Reserve area as part of a landscape architecture course that was run with engineers from the Sustainability Society Network.
The ‘‘intentionally provocative’’ designs aimed to take ‘‘people out of their comfort zone’’, Sustainability Society Network Wellington representative Stu Farrant said.
The process encouraged students to re-imagine the urban landscape 20-50 years into the future and how sustainability concerns would shape it. ‘‘The city council aren’t going to be jumping out and building that tomorrow.’’