24 September 1999 Canterbury Museum Exhibition by Lincoln Landscape Students

From struggling small towns to booming tourist destinations, from nature reserves to recreation resorts – they all get the designing attention of Lincoln University landscape architecture students in a Canterbury Museum exhibition over 19-26 October.

Under the theme and title ‘Exposure’ the exhibition, in the Museum's Exhibitions Court, features the work of the 45 final-year students from Lincoln University's Bachelor of Landscape Architecture programme.

The title has twin significance – for the students it is the first exposure of their work to public scrutiny and comment, and for the landscape architecture profession itself the exhibition will add to its public profile.

"There is no element of competition or judging in the exhibition," says class member and exhibitor Liz Kidson, "it is purely to show an aspect of the students' preparation for the realities of the profession we are about to enter.

"As a course requirement we all have to do a design study on a selected site and produce from that a set of concept ideas depicting a vision for its future development."

An exhibition is held annually by each year's graduating class as an opportunity for the students to demonstrate their design skills to the public. The organisation of an exhibition is also regarded as a test of their management capabilities.

Design exhibits this year range from a ‘town centre/wharf development’ vision for Bluff to proposals for the consolidation of Raglan to allow for future growth while retaining the character the town has developed over many years of isolation and incremental growth.

The Bluff exhibit, by Paul Roper of Wellington, is built around utilisation of the town's natural resources as a basis for small town revival.

"I wanted to use things like the sea – fishing, oysters, ships – Bluff’s marine and industrial heritage, as a basis for renewal," says Paul.

"I saw an opportunity for the town to capitalise on the flow of people heading to the new National Park on Stewart Island and I have juxtaposed the industrial character of the town with ecologically related elements such as the sea, native bush, and national parks."

Of his Whaingaroa Raglan proposal, student Bruno Gilmour from Waikato says he saw Raglan as an alternative to the more developed beach resorts typically seen on any trip to the east coast of the northern North Island.

"This is seen in ways as simple as the black sand and west coast weather, the cross section of the local community and the experiential nature of visiting the place," says Bruno.

"Ideas at the moment include co-housing as an access to more secluded waterfront areas, and public spaces designed through the theories associated with Critical Regionalism."

Other exhibits include waterfront developments for Lyttelton and Gisborne, proposals for the Clifford Bay inter-island ferry terminal, a golf resort based on Christchurch's Groynes area, the re-positioning of baches at Taylor's Mistake, and cultural and ecological heritage themes for Quail Island in Lyttelton harbour.

Admission is free and the exhibition will be open daily from 9.00am - 5.00pm.

For further information contact Liz Kidson, Landscape Architecture Group, Lincoln University, Email: kidsone@weka.lincoln.ac.nz

Ian Collins, Journalist, Lincoln University, Canterbury, New Zealand