Boffa Miskell designed and developed landscape spaces that complement the building's architectural form, respond to the site context and act as functional spaces for residents. Our project landscape architects also provided quality assurance and support during the project construction phase, enabling responses to queries, site conditions and challenges and design changes as needed.
Fully accessible entrances along Grahame Breed Drive are framed by lush planting, basalt paving, and stone walls that highlight the volcanic character of the site. The car park, designed to feel more like a courtyard, integrates greenery with gardens under vehicle overhangs and mounded tree pits above the structural slab, softening the space and creating a pleasant outlook for the apartments above.
Collaboration across disciplines was essential to addressing the site’s challenges. Unstable volcanic ground conditions required adapting designs during construction. For example, discovering fractured rock in the quarry face led to replacing a planned vertical rock cut with a large batter, ensuring stability while maintaining visual connections to the reserve. A cantilevered car park design stabilises the quarry lip in selected areas, allowing functional use of the site while providing safety and integrating greenery.
During the resource consent phase, Boffa Miskell provided urban design and landscape planning services, including an Urban Design and Landscape Visual Assessment, ensuring the proposal aligned with the site’s prominent and culturally significant location.
The project achieves several key outcomes:
- Creating an attractive and accessible frontage.
- Sensitively interacting with the Lava Lake Heritage Reserve.
- Designing a functional car park that resembles a landscaped courtyard.
- Respect and reflect the site's volcanic heritage in the landscape design.
- Preserving and enhancing views of Big King from Mt Eden Road.
Coordination with the reconstruction of Grahame Breed Drive required ongoing design adjustments to align building entrances with road and footpath levels. Despite these complexities, the original design intent remains intact, resulting in a landscape that complements the building’s architecture and the site’s heritage.
