Global success for two Auckland architecture projects

Two Auckland architecture projects – Kopupaka Reserve and LightPath / Te Ara I Whiti – have been acknowledged as the best in the world in their respective categories at the prestigious World Architecture Festival (WAF).

Kopupaka Reserve, in west Auckland, has been named World Landscape of the Year at WAF, while LightPath has won the Transport – Built Projects category.

Kopupaka Reserve, designed by Isthmus Group, is a “hybrid park” formed around a number of basket forms that filter stormwater from the nearby suburban development while also providing places for recreation to take place and natural ecologies to establish.

“Inspired by woven baskets for catching eel, Isthmus has developed an innovative river-wall system of interlocking timbers,” said the World Architecture Festival jury.

“Simple yet sophisticated engineering allows the baskets to retain silt and create habitats which will shift and change over time.”

LightPath / Te Ara I Whiti, designed by Monk MacKenzie and LandLAB, is an inner-city cycle and pedestrian path. No shrinking violet, the proudly neon-pink path is an immensely popular transformation of a redundant piece of motorway into a highly valued public space.

LightPath, which has received a slew of awards both at home and abroad, has fast become a recognisable Auckland landmark. Two weeks ago, Lightpath and the Canada Street Bridge, the sinuous structure that provides access to the path, received New Zealand’s highest public architecture award, the John Scott Award for Public Architecture. Earlier this year, LightPath received a Chicago Athenaeum Award.

The World Architecture Festival is a prestigious annual event that was this year held in Berlin from 16-18 November. New Zealand has enjoyed success at WAF before: in 2012 Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki was named Building of the Year.

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