Last year Unitec students Landscape Design worked on a Master Plan for Matuku Link, and did a great job. It resulted in the trust forming clear ideas of “what goes where” in the landscape, and some ingenious solutions we could have never come up with on our own.

This year the Architecture students at Unitec were in charge, guided by architect Chris Murphy. In just three weeks, each student designed a future Sustainable Wetland Education Centre for Matuku Link. And again, they gave us a lot to think about: roof lines, connectivity to our existing barn, cantilevered options, all-in-one spaces or separated areas, materials, view shafts… it was great to have so many fresh minds help us come up with possible solutions. Every design included an idea, plan or material that we liked. And we were blown away by the quality of the presentations: models and posters and drawings…all done in just three weeks… I dread to think about the amounts of coffee and lost sleep these efforts must have required! We are very grateful though, and hope to be building something along these lines in the future.

Have a look at the images for a snap shot of some of the work.