Soaking up the sites on the Sponge Project Tour

The Sponge Project Tour set in motion by the Auckland Branch of NZILA in October had a lot to offer.

The end-of-week road trip involved taking a busload of 30 landscape architects and students around five exemplary ‘Sponge City’ project sites, disembarking at each for a short talk-and-walk before returning to the starting point of Wynyard Quarter.

Photo credit: Izzy Ussher

Auckland Branch chair Ethan Reid was impressed by the breadth and depth of discussions that were opened up and “propelled” along by the tour.

As an added element to the afternoon’s travels, an invite was issued by Landscape Architecture Aotearoa for tour participants to take eye-catching photos at the different ‘Sponge Project’ destinations. Many of these were then submitted in a friendly competition to win a prize copy of the picture book Ultrawild: An audacious plan to rewild every city on earth. (See more on the selected photos and winner further below).

“This tour was an outlet for our community of existing and emerging landscape professionals to hear about the interaction of design thinking, flood resilience, the ‘knitting in’ of amenities and the different levels of experience woven into water infrastructure,” said Ethan.

“When we get together like this – especially in a fast-paced area of practice that is front of mind for all of us – it becomes apparent just how important the working relationships we have with councils and mana whenua are, as well as learning about ways to align with developer ambitions and aspirations.

“As practitioners, a knowledge-sharing experience like this allows us to build a better understanding of the commonalities and differences in each of our areas of practice, away from the relative isolation of our offices and studios,” Ethan said, adding “these are opportunities I particularly enjoy helping to create in my NZILA role.”

Photo credit: Ethan Reid

The five projects featured on the tour were

·       Daldy Street Linear Park with speaker Ethan Reid

·       Vaughan’s Creek Wetland with speaker Scott Greenhalgh

·       Awaruku Wetland with speaker Alfred Chan

·       Hooton Reserve with with Ethan standing in as speaker for Matthew Bradbury

·       Te Kaitaka, Greenslade Reserve with speaker Zach Barker

Ethan: “When you explore projects ‘designed to flood’ back to back in sequence with each other, it makes clear how design thinking in this space has progressed over the last two decades, how the projects have evolved over time, and how they have performed in recent weather events. It gives you time to consider how terms like a ‘100 year storm capacity’ might actually play out, and how to factor in things like contaminants. One of the consistent topics which emerged during the tour was how terms like ‘1 in 100’ , or ‘1 in 500’ year storm are applied as parameters for design, and how these seemingly fixed reference points are themselves shifting and changing with our climate.

“The tour offered both a deepening of technical knowledge around subjects like hydrology, the natural plumbing of where water goes, and insights into the occasional brick walls we face. Examples of the latter include an emerging disconnect that can occur between urban design manuals and standards as an enabling tool, compared to the outcomes that the current consenting environment will actually allow us to deliver.

Photo credit: Ethan Reid

“On the tour we saw a number of hybrid reserve models, and fully vegetated residential streetscapes with no mown berms that now act as benchmarks for achievable best practice outcomes. Continuing to progress these models will necessitate further dialogue between the private and public practice components of our profession”.

A friendly photo challenge

Landscape Architecture Aotearoa adjudged a large number of meritorious photos submitted from the Sponge Project Tour event.

A standout for its representation of the essence of a ‘Sponge Project”, and winner of a copy of Ultrawild, was this photo taken by Xinxin Wang at Awaruku Wetland.

It stood out for showing an oasis of water-filled green space that serves an invaluable purpose in the topology of its surrounding community, while simultaneously adding amenity to nearby side streets and cul-de-sacs.

Xinxin Wang’s prize winning photo.

The three next highly commendable images were photos taken by:

Yingxuan - Te Kaitaka / Greenslade Reserve, below:

Troy Fan - Vaughan's Stream Wetland, below:

Geraldine Bayly - Awaruku Wetland, below:

Given the amount of photography talent worth showcasing, it was impossible to leave out Sue Wake’s synchronised ducks or the closeup of indigenous flora, complete with insects (both taken at Awaruku Wetland).

Another one of Troy Fan’s photos of Vaughan's Stream Wetland struck a dramatic chord above. As did these three photos, all taken by Rosie Rolls; two from Te Kaitaka / Greenslade Reserve and another angle on Awaruku Wetland.

And last but not least, Hugh Lusk’s homage to renowned landscape architect Martha Schwartz’s Bagel Garden deserves special mention, and would merit a special awarding of a bag of bagels!

The Sponge Project Tour event was supported by Watersmart with ‘debrief refreshments’ enjoyed at Good George.

Ethan Reid: “By scope and size the Sponge Project Tour, assisted by NZILA events and marketing manager Trina Edwards, was a new type of event. I see lots of potential for running similar events in the future”.

Auckland, sponge cities, PeopleStephen Olsen