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\u201cBecause 75 percent of New Zealand\u2019s visitors land in\nAuckland, airport management wanted to highlight the country\u2019s historic\nland-use practices at and around the terminal,\u201d says Surfacedesign Co-Founding\nPartner and Auckland project lead James A. Lord, FASLA. \u201cOur ecological landscape design is\nculturally rooted, informed by New Zealand\u2019s centuries-old agrarian traditions\nfrom its indigenous Maori settlers and European immigrants in the 1800s.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The nearly six-square-mile (1,500-hectare) landscape design\nwas initially commissioned in 2007 and has since expanded to include phased\nimprovements through 2044. The overall\napproach balances ongoing airport expansion with environmentally conscious\nurban design. Surfacedesign\u2019s bold landscape\ntreatment purposely makes a lasting impression from both air and ground. The firm\u2019s design incorporates large geometric\npatterns inspired by sacred Maori stonefields (mounded-rock terraces that\nprovided protection against weather and intruders), herringbone hedgerows\nplanted by New Zealand\u2019s European immigrants, abstracted shapes referencing\nAuckland\u2019s natural volcanic and coastal topography, and \u201cV\u201d patterns found in\nbird flight (significant in Maori culture) and runway chevrons. The overall\nplan cohesively connects existing greenspaces and creates additional\nairport-adjacent recreational opportunities\u2014including a mountain-bike park and\n45 acres (18 hectares) of new open space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Above and beyond references to New Zealand\u2019s rich agrarian\nhistory, the landscape design fulfills the airport\u2019s sustainability goals. To re-purpose excavated dirt on site instead\nof trucking it to a landfill, Surfacedesign animated the previously flat\nOruarangi Creek Public Open Space with mounds patterned after abstracted\nseashells. Stormwater remediation is\nanother priority. Run-off into Oruarangi\nCreek and Manukau Harbour follows the traditional Maori natural filtration\nphilosophy that water should always pass through rocks before entering a larger\nbody. The project\u2019s primary stormwater\nremediation pond, at the Auckland Airport Sculpture Park and Walk across from\nAKL\u2019s retail district, combines ecological intervention and artistic\namenity. A corridor of trees lures birds\nfrom the runway to the pond; lowland edge plants encourage additional wildlife\nhabitation. Planned green infrastructure\nat AKL\u2019s terminal plaza will include permeable gardens that naturally filter\nstormwater. All hardscape materials and\nplantings are sourced locally, further minimizing the project\u2019s carbon\nfootprint.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now in its 26th year, The American Architecture Awards honor\nnew and cutting-edge design in American architecture in the U.S. and\nabroad. The jury chose the 2020 winners\nfrom more than 400 projects. \nSurfacedesign\u2019s American Architecture Award for Auckland International\nAirport is the firm\u2019s second consecutive honor, following 2019 recognition for\nlandscape design at the Anaha multifamily complex in Honolulu.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
San Francisco-based landscape architecture and urban planning firm Surfacedesign won a 2020 American Architecture Award for its work at Auckland International Airport (AKL). The honor\u2014in the Urban Planning\/Landscape Architecture category\u2014was awarded by The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies. \u201cBecause 75 percent of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":16976,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[114],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16975","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/02_Surfacedesign_Auckland-Airport-Landscape_Blake-Marvin_010.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16975","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16975"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16975\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16979,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16975\/revisions\/16979"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16976"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16975"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16975"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16975"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}