Mansergh Graham were engaged to develop a Strategic Overview Plan for the Hopuhopu Campus with a unique tribal focus; allowing the mapping of different journeys and experiences for visitors to the campus, from their first arrival to their final destination.
The Waikato-Tainui site is situated in the heart of the Waikato between Ngaruawahia and Taupiri, overlooking the Waikato River. Drawing on iconic local landscape features, tribal themes, and cultural patterns, the concept design redevelops the campus as a cultural, educational, recreational, and administrative tribal base, and re-interprets traditional tribal notions within the contemporary framework.
Mansergh Graham also prepared the subsequent Preliminary and Developed Conceptual Design for Stage 1 Works, identifying the extent, materiality and spatial articulation of landscape works adjacent to the proposed Administration Building and Kauhanganui Building extension, whilst maintaining the wider landscape conceptual framework. A number of cultural and ceremonial landscape features are proposed to be developed in collaboration with the client’s artisans to symbolise Tainui’s association with the site.
The plant signatures proposed reference the ecological history of the site, and will be sourced from local plant nurseries that follow eco-sourcing principles. Dacrycarpus dacrydioides (Kahikatea), enclose the site and frame views to the sacred Taupiri Mountain. Earth mounding planted with indigenous wind grasses assist in integrating the buildings into the landscape.
The project included:
- Strategic Overview Plan
- Hard and Soft Landscape Conceptual Design
- Developed Design
- Construction Drawings and Specifications
