Te Kaapuia o Te Waoku — The Discovery Garden

Practice Area

Client

Wellington Botanic Gardens

  1. Super-sized ‘garden pegs’ welcome visitors, creating an interactive space and introducing the four themes and wayfinding colours.

  2. Bilingual text —Te Reo Māori and English— introduces another layer of information to discover, and acknowledges the connection mana whenua have with the area.

  3. Appropriate to the setting, the material choices are typically wood

  4. The series of ramps, steps and terraces encourage discovery and exploration.

  5. Te Kaapuia o Te Waoku — The Discovery Garden

  6. Large-scale typography in bold colour applied to the architectural surfaces will weather along with the materials they are painted on, embedding them in the environment.

  7. Carefully placed interactive elements (right in image) encourage visitors to engage with the garden and make their own discoveries.

  8. Donors have been recognised with a wall of ‘donor pegs’, with the colour and size of each peg reflecting the contribution made by each donor.

Project Vision

Located within the popular Wellington Botanic Gardens, Te Kaapuia o Te Waoku or, The Discovery Garden, is a living classroom, which connects people to plants. City life provides few opportunities to connect with nature and this new garden aims to help children and their families better understand how plants support us with food, fiber, medicine and construction materials. These ‘four pillars’ influenced the design of the garden, and formed the basis of its education program. The Discovery Garden and Pavilion combine to become a ‘living classroom’ with the vision of bringing people and plants together.

Its Māori name Te Kaapuia o Te Waoku was chosen with local Iwi and means ‘We are all part of nature.’ Bilingual text —Te Reo Māori and English— introduces information to discover, and acknowledge the connection mana whenua have with the area. Super-sized ‘garden pegs’ welcome visitors, introducing the four themes and wayfinding colors. Large-scale typography in bold color applied to the architectural surfaces will weather along with the materials they are painted on, further embedding them in the environment. Pared-back illustration and plain language introduce ideas for the audience, some of whom are non-readers. Carefully placed interactive elements encourage visitors to engage with the garden and make their own discoveries.

In the heart of the garden is a new pavilion — a gathering place to share discoveries.  The key purpose of the pavilion is that it houses and supports creative hands-on education sessions that inspire a life-long connection between people and plants. Located on a triangular wedge of land carved out of the steep hillside, the pavilion provides a flexible learning space for groups of up to 40 children.

Project Details
Design Team

Lisa Rimmer (bid lead and project landscape architect), Sophie Jaques (landscape architect), Helen Kerr Stakeholder (engagement & principal landscape architect), Earl Rutherford (project architect), Matt Peacocke (landscape architect), John Broadbent (architect), Dan Males (quality assurance)

Project Area

1,500 m2

Project Budget

$3,100,000 NZD

Consultants

Nick Kapica (environmental graphic design)

Fabricators

Concept Sign and Display Ltd. (signage fabrication & installation)