NZ landscape architects to be honoured

March 1, 2006

NZ landscape architects to be honoured at awards in Wellington March 13

Some of New Zealand’s most iconic new landscape sites will be recognised at the 2006 Pride of Place New Zealand landscape architecture awards to be held in Wellington this month.

Every two years the New Zealand Institute of Landscape Architects (NZILA) awards honour the best in landscape architecture around the country.

NZILA president Renee Lambert said there would be 26 winners in this year’s national awards to be held at Te Papa on March 13.

``Both supreme awards will be given out this year, the Charlie Challenger Award for planning and the George Malcolm Award for design,’’ she said.

The 2004 supreme award winners were Taranaki Wharf by Wraight and Associates and Oriental Bay by Isthmus Group, both from Wellington.

Winning projects this year come from a range of regions including Auckland, Queenstown, Christchurch, Wellington, New Plymouth, Cambridge and the Waikato.

The Pride of Place landscape awards are an opportunity to celebrate excellence within the profession of landscape architecture in New Zealand, Ms Lambert said.

``With every awards event, it seems that the bar is lifted, and this year is no exception. There are projects submitted this year that are world-class, and that will set new standards.

``The 2006 Pride of Place Awards highlight the importance of honoring a national design that ensures the creation of places with a distinctive NZ landscape character.

``The emergence of a strong sense of place is due to a better understanding of ourselves as a nation and, as a profession, having the confidence and ability to express that understanding.’’

Lambert said contemporary landscape architecture in New Zealand has over the last decades slowly established a voice that is now clearly recognising our uniqueness in the world.

More than 50 entries have been received for the awards, with a gala dinner at Te Papa on March 13 to pay tribute to the country’s best landscape architects and their projects.

Previous winners have included such key public landscapes as the Arrowtown town centre development, Quay Park, on Auckland's waterfront, indigenous ecosystems handbooks for Christchurch, Papakura gateway reserve, the Wellington Botanic Gardens duck pond, Onehunga’s town centre, the Haast Visitors Centre, and the New Plymouth foreshore walkway and development.

Three winners on March 13 will be submitted to the International Federation of Landscape Architects Awards, which recognises excellence in landscape architecture from IFLA member countries.

ENDS

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