A Kiwi approach to landscape architecture

By Sarah Walker

Landscape architecture brings together science and design. It’s a unique discipline that investigates and creates better design solutions for outdoor spaces while addressing important contemporary challenges like climate change, urbanisation, and sustainability. Innovative landscape architects have a huge impact on the built environment around the globe. 

Everyone’s career path is as unique as themselves. New Zealand’s rich, diverse landscape and history shapes Kiwi landscape architects’ approaches and practices, whether that’s at home or overseas.

“University taught me how to critically think through an iterative design process, which has been crucial to my career,” says Kurt Cole, who gained a Master of Landscape Architecture at Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington, and now works at Boffa Miskell.

Kurt Cole.

“My most cherished memory was having the privilege to be welcomed onto the marae and being able to spend many nights staying there. This gave me an invaluable insight into Māori culture and formed the basis for my own professional values and deep respect for the landscape that I still carry with me in practice today. 

“In fact, a highlight of my career so far has been the opportunities that I have had to work with Indigenous people on really rewarding projects that are driven by their cultural values, in both Australia and New Zealand.”

Incorporating Indigenous design thinking and practice into their studies and careers is something a lot of graduates are grateful for.

Tama Whiting's thesis title: "Te Ao Hurihuri - Interactive Indigenious Digital Landscapes" . It was a pilot study he did for a local iwi using photogrammetry to capture 3D models for some of their cultural markers.

“My Master’s research explored interactive Indigenous design tools. I worked with a local iwi to explore digital tools that could be used to help with land management and storytelling,” explains Tama Whiting, who also studied in Wellington and is now a Designer at SCAPE Landscape Architecture in New York. 

“Through this I made some great connections that I maintained and reached out to when I graduated. They helped me with job opportunities when I first got involved in the industry. My first job was working part time at Studio Pacific Architecture in Wellington while finishing my thesis. This turned into a full-time position and I stayed there for almost three years before deciding I needed a change of scenery. I then moved to New York where I received offers from a number of well-known firms and chose SCAPE."

Cole says studying for a Masters proved his commitment to the profession when it came to job hunting.

“Our Master of Landscape Architecture programme graduates roughly 20 students a year,” explains Bruno Marques, Programme Director of Landscape Architecture. “Many of those students capitalise on industry connections made while studying to go abroad and take their talents global, but a few return to New Zealand, with their work making a real impact on our landscape.”

Vina Quartermain is another of those graduates, spending two years post-graduation in Scotland followed by a year in Berlin. She now works for Harrison Grierson, an engineering firm in Auckland.

Vina Quartermain’s thesis was titled: Designed Ecologies: Breaking away from islandised conservation

“Through the MLA programme I met a lot of great practitioners who shared invaluable knowledge and professional insight,” she says. “I learnt to critically assess my own work, which is something you need to do all the time in practice.

“Part of the reason I studied the MLA was because I wanted to maximise my skills and qualifications before heading overseas. But the MLA still only scratched the surface. I learned a lot during those two years, and it gave me a better focus for my practice, as well as industry connections that made securing that first role much easier.”

More information about Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington’s Master of Landscape Architecture, which can now be studied at their Auckland campus, can be found on their website.