Q & A with AILA Fellow Peta-Maree Ashford
Peta-Maree Ashford is one of four directors at Emerge Associates, a landscape architectural consultancy firm primarily operating out of Perth, Western Australia. She’s been with the firm for 19 years and says that rather than feeling “old and stale”, staying in one place has helped her evolve with the practice.
Emerge Associates has gone from four staff in 1998 to 22 landscape architects with offices in Perth, Margaret River and Melbourne. It now offers environmental consultancy specialising in hydrology, environmental planning, ecology, bushfire management, CLASS and sustainability. Collectively it employs 60 staff.
Peta-Maree Ashford.
LAA: Tell us a bit about yourself.
PMA: I am proudly a farmer’s daughter. I think knowing this about me helps some other things make sense. I grew up in a town 174km north of Perth in the Wheatbelt. This is where my love of the outdoors and open space started.
I became a director (of Emerge Associates) in 2007 when I moved south to start our south west office. In 2012 I moved back to the Perth studio to become the Landscape Business Manager and Principal Landscape Architect.
In 2016 I was shortlisted for an Urban Development Industry Australia (WA) Women in Leadership award. In 2017 I was recognised as a Fellow of AILA and in 2018 was privileged to be voted as one of our 5 national Board Directors for AILA in the role of Vice President. This has seen my understanding of the broader challenges and successes of Landscape Architecture expanded to a national level. I feel so privileged to serve my institute in such a role.
Peta-Maree says becoming a mother made her a much better landscape architect.
LAA: What drew you to landscape architecture?
PMA: Even in primary school I always knew I wanted to go to university but no idea what to do. My subject strengths were maths and art so the natural inclination was to study architecture but when I found out that landscape architecture was being offered as a new course, it seemed to fit the bill. My country origins came to the forefront. What better job than to design outdoor space for people to enjoy!
“I had never spent so much time in public space, watching other people and how they use it - when I should have been watching my kids.”
LAA: How do you see the role of a landscape architect? What should they seek to do?
Where do I start? I believe landscape architects really have the power to improve people’s physical and mental well-being through the projects we deliver. During COVID I have never seen so many people in their front yards, on our streets and in our parks, socially distancing but needing to connect to each other. I am not sure if this happened in NZ but bike stores pretty much sold out of bikes in WA. They had their Xmas sales explosion in March. I loved to watch so many people out and exercising rather than being car centric. This is our watershed moment to grasp and advocate our professional value. The delivery of green infrastructure in our cities not only helps with the urban heat effect but also creates an environment to encourage people to be outdoors and active.
LAA: What drives you professionally?
PMA: Whilst I’ve always had a strong interest in landscape architecture and design, I didn’t truly fall in love with landscape architecture until about 10 years ago. I was so lucky to have three new graduates join our firm and they blew my mind with their youthful insight in contemporary design approaches. Meeting them I realised I had become complacent in my work. I really thought I had it all down pat. I realised that I can never stop learning. People's behaviour and the way they want to engage with public space is forever changing and I need to pay attention to that. What drives me is meeting interesting people to learn what is important to them and to try to deliver places that people didn’t even realise they needed or wanted to experience.
Peta-Maree says it is important to know she is a farmer’s daughter.
LAA: What drives you professionally?
PMA: Whilst I’ve always had a strong interest in landscape architecture and design, I didn’t truly fall in love with landscape architecture until about 10 years ago. I was so lucky to have three new graduates join our firm and they blew my mind with their youthful insight in contemporary design approaches.
Meeting them I realised I had become complacent in my work. I really thought I had it all down pat. I realised that I can never stop learning. People's behaviour and the way they want to engage with public space is forever changing and I need to pay attention to that. What drives me is meeting interesting people to learn what is important to them and to try to deliver places that people didn’t even realise they needed or wanted to experience.
Morawa is a remote, inland town approx. 4.5hrs north of Perth. This project - led by Peta-Maree - was part of a town centre revitalisation. The clock tower (green asparagus-like tower) is by artist Jason Hirst.
LAA: How do you measure success with a project?
PMA: By how much the project is embraced by the community. If people enjoy going there and using the places we design, even if it isn’t exactly how we anticipated it, then we have been successful. From a client perspective, if we receive repeat business and are recommended to others then that means we have not only delivered a successful project but we are also a valued professional to work with. Sometimes the process to delivery is harder than the construction itself. Some of my best (industry) friends originated from consultant team environments.
LAA: What challenges is your LA background allowing you to address right now?
PMA: I want to be part of a movement across professional disciplines that values and designs for people and places, not cars and traffic. Most projects I work on, the roads and parking are regarded as necessary and the parks and their facilities are on a secondary level. I want this priority to change.
COVID saw so many people outdoors walking and cycling because there was simply more room on the roads and probably more time if I am honest. I just don’t want people to forget this so quickly.
I think landscape architects have a role to play to remind people what they valued when faced with a global health pandemic. I want to continue to design places that compel people to get out and about, be connected and enjoy the outdoors.
Iluma Estate. This photo was taken at the park’s opening in 2018 but Peta-Maree says COVID emphasised the need for people to connect with one another, meaning parks were especially well utilised.
LAA: We're all getting used to our new normal (COVID). It's very strange and unsettling. How's it impacted you?
PMA: Unsettling is a good way to describe it. I think I was definitely taking my little world for granted. Feeling the original panic and threat of COVID to your personal health, then seeing the numbers escalate of those ill was terribly distressing. I sincerely feel for all those who have lost family members due to the pandemic.
I missed playing team sports and am thankful WA were able to get our hockey season up and running by June. It isn’t just the sport but seeing friends associated with it that is part of the community connection.
I am a very social being so I am still missing travelling whenever it suits, either to meet colleagues through my AILA role or seeing family. Due to stimulus packages, professionally we are busy but the uncertainty of pipeline work feels foreign and beyond our control.
What I have learnt is that I don’t have to be in the office every day to be a manager. I can do it from home at least once a week and no one is worse off.
And I am definitely relishing the amount of online learning content available. Being in WA some courses run only the east coast and are expensive to attend. Now I am attending webinars at least once a week. I can’t wait for the Land-e-scape week being run by AILA 12 -15 October 2020 in lieu of the Festival (shameless plug there). I look forward to gathering as a profession in a learning environment. I haven’t been able to travel in my role as AILA Director this year to see colleagues face to face but this is the next best thing.
LAA: You recently joined NZILA members via zoom for Friday drinks. How was that?
PMA: And this is what I mean with the new online forum. How lucky am I that you let a West Australian gatecrash your Friday virtual drinks? Although with the time difference drinking at noon WA time probably is a little early.
I enjoyed swapping notes both personally and professionally. To compare and contrast experiences definitely makes you feel like you are not alone. Like NZ, WA has been so lucky with its hard borders as we were back in our offices and venues open after 8 weeks, and playing community sport after 12 weeks. We remain cautious, but compared to many states in Australia we have been living in a fortunate bubble.
Without COVID, you may not have made the effort to organise such an event in a forum that doesn’t discriminate on location. Whilst I wouldn’t like to completely substitute all interactions so they’re online, it definitely helped reach across huge swathes of land and water and connect with professionals in another country.
I really appreciated NZILA letting me join you.
LAA: Would you like to see more collaboration or sharing of ideas between our 2 countries?
PMA: Absolutely. I feel the more we connect globally, sharing and understanding challenges and successes, the better we will be as a professional. Joining your virtual drinks, I really wanted to meet other professionals I wouldn't ordinarily have, to understand some of the successes and challenges facing landscape architectural practice in NZ. I think we can truly learn from each other. I have always admired New Zealand’s cultural awareness. We could learn so much from you.
I think with the increased online learning content and ability to connect via zoom and teams we really should collaborate more rather than working in silos. Often our challenges are the same. Our institutes have a Memorandum of Understanding signed in 2018 but maybe we should start at a base level of AILA/NZILA Friday drinks?