Pūtahi Park - Town Basin

Year: 2018 - 2019
Status: Completed March 2022
Client: Whangārei District Council
Location: Te Ahipūpūrangi-a-Īhenga (Town Basin), Whangārei
Type: Public space
Discipline: Cultural design (landscape architecture)

Description: The iconic new landmark, Pūtahi Park, opened in March 2022, provides an important link between Whangārei’s waterfront, the Huarahi o te Whai Hātea Loop Walkway and the central city area.

The $6.6 million park has transformed the waterfront site next to the Victoria Canopy Bridge into a new, versatile urban space with:

an amphitheatre and great lawn for community events and general recreation
a new, small-scale play space
an interactive water feature
a large kinetic sculpture and
public amenities.

This project incorporates a number of significant hapū narratives and responds to landmarks and natural features of significance to hapū.

Our role in the project involved researching and presenting cultural narratives and designing and facilitating collaborative workshops between Te Parawhau, Ngāti Kahu o Torongare and Whangārei District Council. This process enabled Te Parawhau and Ngāti Kahu o Torongare to work collaboratively with Whangārei District Council to create a significant civic space in Whangārei that positively engages with tangata whenua history, culture and identity. We also worked closely with Council’s landscape architects to identify cultural design opportunities, including appropriate planting, material and colour selection, and opportunities for artwork integration.

Named and opened at a dawn blessing ceremony conducted by Te Parawhau on 11 March 2022, Pūtahi means “a meeting place, centre, confluence, intersection“. It was one of the top five selected from suggestions given by people of Whangārei in 2021.

Images courtesy of Whangārei District Council.