At the 2018 NZILA Firth Conference held in April this year Firth’s landscaping competition was a huge success, for the second year running, with some spectacular entries for the delegates to choose two winners from.
“The ‘Firth Full of Surprise’s' competition is intended to be fun and a light hearted way of promoting hard landscaping using concrete,” says Bernice Cumming, Architectural Manager for Firth. “The idea is that this competition is not intended for national or internationally recognised projects but for equally great projects that fly under the radar. In the competition designers get to express and tell their story in the competition. Often these meaningful design stories are never told.”
With the 2018 NZILA Firth conference focussing on Places and Space; Culture and Community; Water and Ecologies; and Movement, projects seeking to define the elements that are necessary, possible and inspirational for our cities today, and in the future were sought. Also in keeping with the conference ‘Cities/Taone’ theme the two competition categories on offer were Small Project and Urban Landscape.
Finalists were selected using the following scoring criteria:
• The image has concrete or masonry as part of the design – 1 point
• The product is from Firth’s concrete or paving / masonry range – 1 point
• Concrete / masonry product is used sustainably – 1 point
“This year saw another fabulous bunch of entries that delegates at the conference were asked to vote on,” says Bernice. “Congratulations to our very worthy winners.”
And the winners were …
Small Project Entry:
Memorial Garden
Ara Polytechnic – Christchurch City Campus
Client: Ara Institute
Designer: Align Landscape Architects
Project Contractors: GSL (Grounds and Services Ltd)
Products used:
Surfacing: Firth Piazza Paver - Honed and sealed
Exposed Aggregate - Canterbury Concrete - Black oxide mix (single shot) sealed
Bespoke seats: Firth Coloured Concrete - Thundercloud - Honed
Type:
- Urban Landscape – educational campus environment
- Small Project - approx. 150sq/m [inside the wider campus]
Inspiration & Surprise – Memorial History & Student Design + Progression
The Memorial Garden area is inspired by those past students and staff members who gave their lives in the service of their country and is located in a key interface area within the ‘North Green’ heart of the campus. The design features bold paths interlacing through a series of garden beds, containing fragrant jasmine, architectural grasses, and magnolia trees, alongside bespoke concrete benches, paved edges and lights. A key feature of the garden area is the angular aggregate paths distinguished by Firth pavers. The material palette was selected for its longevity and durability, linking into a key objective of the campus; sustainability.
Align designed a series of bespoke commemorative features in the form of artistic, corten steel pillars with laser cut patterning. The patterns were chosen through a design competition run for Ara Art and Design students. The custom-made Firth concrete block seats, designed in a sophisticated black oxide mix and set amongst the garden bed paths, make the perfect reflective resting areas.
Urban Landscape Entry:
Ellerslie Noise Walls – sections A1 & A2
State Highway 1, Ellerslie, Auckland
Client: NZ Transport Agency
Designer: White Landscape + Urbanism, Manaaki, GHD, Novare Design
Project Contractors: Fulton Hogan/John Holland Joint Venture, Oxcon, CLL
Sustainability:
Due to the presence of volcanic rock and utilities infrastructure within the construction corridor, steel fibre reinforced concrete foundations were used in place of piled foundations. This provided the added benefits of a reduction in construction time, noise pollution, material and earthworks costs, and an improvement in structural resilience.
Installed as part of a programme to help reduce motorway noise for residents living near State Highway 1 in Ellerslie, the project involves the installation of nearly 3km of concrete sound barriers next to the motorway between the South Eastern Highway and the Greenlane East interchange.
A conceptual framework and series of cultural narratives was developed to inform the design of the noise wall panels. The primary theme draws comparisons between historic river transportation corridors used by Maori, and the motorway corridor as modern day equivalent. This idea is explored through a reimagining of the motorway corridor as an awa (river), and expressed through the use of a bold blue/green colour scheme representing the depth, movement and reflectivity of water.
This theme is further reinforced through reference to waka, and the incorporation of taurapa (sternpost) and tauihu (prow) elements at each end of the project (still to be installed).
Individual panels within each wall section include reference to the scales of tuatara to communicate a message of danger, warning travellers to display caution at motorway exits and onramps. These panels are complemented by tiki figures, acting as kaitiaki and providing a symbol of guardianship and protection.
