Reimagining the retirement village landscape.
Boffa Miskell became involved in the project at the master planning phase, contributing to the development of the form and layout of the village though their visual assessment work.
Early in the Gulf Rise project Metlifecare challenged the design team to rethink the concept of a retirement village. With a desire to move away from the imposing institutional buildings and gated community appearance common in the aged care sector a new ‘open village’ model was developed by the project team to better consider how to approach security, social activity and connectivity in its design.
Work on the design of the landscape areas also began at an early stage, with the resource consent plan being developed and revised through the completion of the landscape works on site. Careful consideration was given to both the function and appearance of each communal area, and the outdoor spaces of the village as a whole.
Containing both five blocks of adjoining villas and an apartment building Precinct 1 of Gulf Rise presented a range of opportunities to respond to this brief in the design of the surrounding outdoor spaces. Activities such as gardening; flower arrangement; butterfly feeding; cooking and garden games were considered for this collection of communal areas to make them interactive and encourage them to be inhabited by the village residents and their visitors.
