Experience of 1969-1970 Diploma of Landscape Architecture - Robin Gay

From day one, the course just enthralled me”

Robin Gay was also in the first ’69-70 class. He, too, had studied horticulture at Lincoln College and had worked since 1959 as a grounds development supervisor for the Tourist Hotel Corporation and National Parks Authority. He was worried about the development that was happening in national parks and the increased level of government tourism funding but felt he could not argue for a better approach without a formal landscape qualification. He had corresponded with landscape architects in the USA but, with a young family, could not afford to train there. He leapt at the opportunity to do the DipLA in New Zealand.

Robin describes his motivation for doing the DipLA, the financial sacrifice it involved and how the course was both gruelling and enthralling.