F E A T U R E    P R O J E C T - G L E N    E D E N    W A L K W A Y

Waitakere City Council recently requested proposals for a walkway from West Coast Road through to Glen Eden shopping mall. The existing building over the current walkway would be demolished to make way for a more open and clearly defined entry to the mall. Designers were required to collaborate with a local artist, and had a budget of $150,000 to work with. We worked with sculptor Stuart Slater to produce our winning submission. The following extract is from the council brief: "This walkway is an opportunity to create a structure that reflects both the local character of Glen Eden as well as New Zealands geographical position as a South Pacific country, referencing the diverse cultures, history, lifestyle, climate, light, and landscape of the nation. The design should demonstrate a measure of collaboration between an artist and the designer. Council is looking for a design that combines functionality with visual impact and one that demands attention. All aspects of the walkway should be encompassed into the design i.e. the design should not concentrate on the canopy and ignore the floor surface. The design should maximise the use of the unique building materials that this country provides."

SUBMISSION

The design submitted as our proposal for the Walkway integrates the natural and built environments that feature strongly in Waitakere City. The form of the walkway and the canopy are easy flowing curves to reflect the natural forms found in nature, ie streams, vegetation etc. This form will help the structure stand out as a focal point for the township, and serve as a more definite link to Glenmall. To integrate the strong structural and natural forms of the design, the services of sculptor Stuart Slater have been incorporated. Following our native theme, Mr Slater has designed scenery which would reflect the Waitakere ranges. He will manufacture the balustrade to the walkway and screening of the existing concrete columns along the existing dairy wall. The columns will be obscured by an iconic form of Kauri , Nikau, and tree fern sculptures. We also asked Mr Slater to design two Bas Relief pieces for the wall of the adjacent camera shop - a train scene and a native flora and fauna scene. Mr Slater will also make two small copper pieces which will be fixed to the underside of the glass panels, shown in the walkway, to represent flora and fauna floating in the stream below. The theme of the Railway also features strongly in our proposal. This is reflected in the use of recycled railway lines for the structure of the canopy and walkway. Curved railway roof beams will support timber sleepers, in turn supporting the glass roof. Copper guttering and downpipes will collect the rainwater which will discharge into the stream reflecting a recycling ethic.   » balustrade / metal     sculptures » bas relief sculptures   The landscaping design will be predominantly ferns and palms, with the entire underside of the ramp having low level ferns as typically found in stream locations. At the upper level a small pond will cascade down a rock slope to a stream which runs under the ramp to another pond. The water will recirculate. Larger feature trees have been specified to the open spaces, again in native ferns and palms.

PLAN

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