The IFLA World Congress Student Charrette 2013

IFLA Newsletter # 104 April 2013

INDIGENOUS LANDSCAPES, SHARED WORLDS THE IFLA WORLD CONGRESS STUDENT CHARRETTE 2013 NEIL CHALLENGER This year’s IFLA World Congress, held in Auckland New Zealand in April, attracted over 200 students, which augers very well for the future of IFLA and for our profession. Sixty five of these students and seven tutors arrived three days early to attend the student charrette that was a precursor to the World Congress.

Building on the Congress theme of ‘shared wisdom’, the charrette had a real client, the local Maori (1) tribe Ngati Whatua o Orakei, and had the goal of beginning the design process for Okahu Bay. An area of Ngati Whatua owned land in Auckland’s affluent eastern suburbs which Ngati Whatua wants to develop as a venue for Maori canoe culture. In terms of design inspiration this opened out on both land and sea to include ideas of Pacific voyages, navigation by the stars and ocean currents, celebration of arrival and departure and the narration of the Ngati Whatua story. Programmatically this led to the bay needing space for the rituals of encounter, canoe storage, accommodation for paddlers, interpretation and training; and at maximum extent to the ability to host several hundred outrigger racing canoes attending regattas, up to 20 war canoes on the beach, and mooring for up to seven double hulled sea going sailing canoes in the bay. All of which firmly placed the site in the Pacific, on the edge of ocean, on an island, and on Ngati Whatua land; an exciting starting point for any design.

Appropriately the project started with a traditional Maori welcome at the beautiful UNITEC campus marae Te Noho Kotahitanga (think of a cross between a family temple and a cathedral), and everyone slept there on the first night. After this, there was the usual charrette frenzy as diverse international teams drew, talked, occasionally argued and eventually settled on a design solution for the bay. Like all charrettes these were variously wonderful, appropriate, grounded, and slightly crazy. All of them were creative and inspirational, and successfully brought together wisdoms from both the 15 countries the students and tutors came from and from Ngati Whatua o Orakei.

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Comments from students and staff “ He kaupapa hohonu tenei! Ma enei mahi, ka kitea atu ano te kanohi kura whenua tuturu, ko Aotearoa nei! Kia mau! Much thought has been given to this project. Through these works we will again welcome the original and true face of our most treasured and traditional land, New Zealand! Hold steadfast! “ Keri Whaitiri – MLA student Lincoln University, New Zealand “…It was our great experience to join the traditional Maori ceremonies, moreover camping in a marae and waking up with the sun rise shining through the entrance of the marae were unforgettable experiences. Only few days living and learning together have broaden [the students’] visions, to understand a future role for young landscape architects, and made lasting mutual relationships in the globalizing world.”

Ariya Aruninta, staff, Chulalongkorn University, Thailand.

“The charette was an intense, enriching, whirlwind experience. … I was swept up from the beginning when we were welcomed onto the breathtaking Te Noho Kotahitanga marae. It was such an honor to stay the night in that beautiful, sacred space and it made me feel as though our work was truly valued. In terms of the project, it was both inspiring and humbling to work with a site of such [prestige], history and potential. The people of Ngati Whatua o Orakei who took the time to share their stories and hopes for the bay further reinforced this. During those three short days I learnt so much more than I ever expected and feel so lucky to have had been on the cart for the ride. “ Megan Walker – final year student Lincoln University (New Zealand) “It was a great experience to meet many landscape architects and students around the world. Working with people from different cultures is a very good way to expand my perspective. In my group, I got to see many kinds of different working processes and design aspects from Chinese, Australian and New Zealander.. … The project is so interesting. The Maori are very exotic the language is beautiful and their philosophy is profound. Also, their history is tragedy. I’m glad that they have a project that try to fix things eventually. I’m so grateful to be part of the Charrette.”

Nichapat Sanunsilp – final year student; Chulalongkorn University Thailand The first IFLA World Congress student charrette was held in Singapore in 2001 and student charrettes have been part of at least seven World Congresses since then. IFLA is to be congratulated for continuing this work for its student constituency. I am of course biased having led the charrette in Singapore, this one in Auckland and two others, but I don’t think that is affecting my judgment too much. IFLA is about advocacy, education and the community of landscape architects and charrettes work in all three areas. Charrettes provide an entry into the community of IFLA that is socially rich and accessible without being too intimidating for students, and they are an engaging way for students to become familiar with the conference topic and a way for students to learn and experiment without risking marks. Finally they are very successful in expanding the community that is IFLA. I know, for example, that some of the people who participated in that first charrette in Singapore still keep in contact twelve years later and are now practicing landscape architects. Based on the comments given by the participants in this year’s charrette I am confident that the same will be true in this case and I am certain that the charrette was an enriching way into the conference theme. Of equal importance, when there is a real client and a real site, I also know that the charrette was an informative starting point for the design of Okahu Bay, the design of which is now being continued by students from UNITEC and Lincoln University as a full studio project.

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All in all a successful project: educative, social, engaging and with the potential to make a long term contribution to Ngati Whatua o Orakei ; so working in multiple ways, and definitely sharing wisdom.

The charrette was lead by Neil Challenger from Lincoln University (New Zealand) with considerable help from Pete Griffiths from UNITEC (New Zealand), as well as from the other tutors: Erica Gilchrist (Lincoln University New Zealand), Matthew Bradbury (UNITEC), Martin Bryant (Victoria University, New Zealand), Ariya Aruninta, (Chulalongkorn University, Thailand) and Adrian Noortman (Wageningen University, Netherlands). The organizers gratefully acknowledge the major sponsor Lincoln University, and the on-going sponsorship of IFLA Charrettes by the Nava Polman-Gerson Foundation.

More pictures at http://www.flickr.com/photos/ifla_landscape_architects_federation/

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