The Auckland Design Office entrusted the City Centre Design Collective (CCDC) with imagining new ways of working together and with mana whenua through an innovative design partnership. An intense, immersive and collaborative process provided the CCDC with a range of strategies and ways of working, all with a singular focus on Place - with Tāmaki Makaurau (as opposed to Auckland) the ultimate Client to be served and provided for through these works.
Central to the formation of the CCDC was the aspiration to recognise and foster the design expertise and experience within the five practices that maintained a permanent Tāmaki Makaurau presence, and to require and support them to grow through this opportunity, particularly in the area of Māori design. Equally, the approach was intended to create efficiencies of process in response to tight timeframes, and to alleviate competitive tensions between practices through collective and collaborative design approaches at a programme level.
The Downtown Infrastructure Development Programme offered opportunity to deliver on the broad range of spatial planning instruments that had been developed over the previous 10 years. The major re-shape of vehicular movement, creation of public transport infrastructure, public open space and laneways were motivated by the City’s hosting of the 36th America’s Cup and APEC in 2021 and the replacement of the City Centre seawall, presenting an ambitious and complex programme with numerous stakeholders and significant time and budget challenges.
Now integrated into the daily life of Tāmaki Makaurau, the Downtown Infrastructure Development Programme has transformed the City Centre’s relationship with Te Waitematā. Noticeably different and exciting public spaces carry the mark of deep knowledge and rich cultural expression to express a tangible sense of manaaki for all users of these spaces as they visit, dwell, pass through and to stand as Mana Whenua.
Relationships, knowledge and understandings of place have been shared and developed through the City Centre Design Collective and the Downtown Infrastructure Development Programme which will be taken forward into other programmes of work.
The City Centre Design Collective, and the Downtown Infrastructure Development Programme, won the 2022 NZILA Award of Excellence Master Planning and Urban Design Strategy. The Judges' citation noted: The Downtown Infrastructure Development Programme is an excellent example of collaborative process. It drew together many practices, creating a coherent programme to develop downtown Tāmaki Makaurau.... This award is recognition of the process aspect of landscape architecture, something that can be overlooked if we are captivated only by products.
