Te Kōhanga Reo o Te Kotahitanga ki Waitaha

This project was a collaboration between ourselves, Natureflow and Wood Ltd.

In mid 2022, Jared at Natureflow was contacted by the Te Kotahitanga to create a new playspace for their centre. Jared invited me to a meeting with the families and to lead the consultation and design process. Tamariki at the centre has already been consulted with and the centre whānau had created a board with what they would like included. Their main concern was that the papa tākaro they had did not reflect te ao Māori and did not provide their tamariki with the types of play opportunities they knew they needed for their development and enjoyment.

The design we proposed was a complete rebuild removing the fixed plastic playground structure and replacing it with natural elements that better reflected their centre’s culture and connection to place. Through the design we were able to address some of their other issues around storage and privacy. The process and dialogue with the centre was fantastic and we were able to follow their lead on the design and layout, particularly for the marae space as well as adding some of our own suggestions. We added plants that would have been indigenous to their area as well as others for privacy, exploration and food. This was a really enjoyable project to be part of, and we loved the positive feedback from the kōhanga reo.