Bringing pūrākau and play together — LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE AOTEAROA

Bringing pūrākau (stories) and play together sits at the centre of the mahi that Bespoke senior landscape architect Luoyun ‘Fish’ Lee is building her career on.

Having the Te Kapua Park Playground recognised by a NZILA Te Karanga O Te Tui Award in 2024 is important, but so was the first time Fish saw tamariki running around this special space she helped to create in the heart of Tūrangi.

Fish hails from Singapore, where her studies for a Diploma in Landscape Design and Horticulture at Ngee Ann Polytechnic put her into contact with a lecturer who had qualified in Landscape Architecture at Lincoln University. This set her on the path to completing her degree at Lincoln, an internship back in Singapore and then on to Bespoke Landscape Architects in 2016.

Bespoke’s co-director and principal landscape architect Lee Brazier describes Fish’s contribution to the Te Kapua project as a “linchpin role from start to finish, encompassing everything from developing the initial concept design to overseeing key aspects of the construction”.

Lee: “Achieving this level of recognition is particularly appreciated, it’s lifted all of us at Bespoke and goes a long way towards affirming our motivation around doing work that is for the good of the community. Work that reinforces and strengthens relationships.”

A river runs through it

One way of describing this award-winning project is the visual map of it (seen in the drone photo above). In essence it presents a place within a place; a papa tākaro (playground) that provides a base for cross-generational story-telling.

Through its carefully considered design a light is being shone on the narrative of Ngāti Tūrangitukua and their strong association with the Tongariro River, Mount Pīhanga and the surrounding rohe.

It could also be said that it has some elements to it of a healing process given tensions and rifts explicitly tied to colonial settlement. That and a need to gradually build new trust and new respect from genuine engagement with mana whenua.

The project’s concept development focused on the geographical route of the Tongariro River as it moves through its final journey to enter Lake Taupō. Incorporating Te Aranga Design Principles had a major influence.

The design team agreed that the course of the river could form the key access route through the playground and the spaces in between become different zones of play.

Working alongside Playground Creations a combination of off-the-shelf and custom designed pieces were put into play - allowing for balance and upper body development, imaginative water play, and spinning, sliding, and rocking movements.

Project highlights

Fish had heard about the nearby Tongariro Alpine Crossing but hadn’t been to Tūrangi before this project began.

“The number one thing that set this project apart for me was the connections with local community and the Ngāti Tūrangitukua iwi,” says Fish.

“As with any project you build a faith in the process of developing and refining iterations of the concept, and the wairua of that”.

Caption: Bespoke has purposefully maintained a staff complement of no more than 10.

Working at Bespoke’s open office was another way to accumulate perspectives and to share direct thoughts about the respective ‘kid’s point of view’ we all retain, she adds.

Alongside collaboration with local iwi, Fish gained valuable learning from seeing how the input of Te Maari Gardner (cultural design) and Tururangi Rowe (carving) was put into practice.

She particularly recalls the challenging sight of poles as high as 3 metres being painted and the manoeuvring required to do that.

Photo courtesy of Taupō District Council

Another highlight was taking part in a community planting day that gave children a hands-on experience of making the space, with Bespoke colleague Anjali Kansara also present.

“I had provided a list of suggested plants to our client the Taupō District Council, and was proud to be at the blessing of the playground”.

Some of the sustainable outcomes at the site ranged across specification of drought resistant native plant species, stockpiling and reuse of all cut materials and local sourcing of logs from fallen trees for balance play features.

The ultimate sight for Fish remains the revelatory ways that children use the space “in ways that are even better than you’d envisaged”.

“Most of all there’s a joy in seeing children of all abilities pushing boundaries and taking risks. Typically you find it’s the parents that are more worried than the children”.

This observation brings to mind an old whakatauki: Tā te tamariki tāna mahi wāwāhi tahā — It is the job of the children to smash the calabash. This gives an acknowledgement that as children explore their ao (world) they will inevitably make mistakes.

Fish is now happily immersed in another legacy project at the Papatoetoe Stadium Reserve.

When she’s not at home feeding pet rabbits Meeko and Willow, she might be found firing up her latest ceramic creation or painting.

Photos of what she’s up to in Aotearoa are sent regularly to family in Singapore to supplement a monthly video call to her parents. Fish has to give reminders that the realm their daughter has entered into as a landscape architect isn’t a new profession.

“It does take some explaining,” she says, smiling.