Nohonga take their place in Britomart

The Wave (Boffa Miskell), Ka Mua Ka Muri (Boffa Miskell), and Pōkare (Bespoke and WDC) are the built finalists of the 2024 Nohonga Design Competition.

This year is the third iteration of the biennial challenge run by the Auckland Branch of the New Zealand Institute of Landscape Architects. The Nohonga design competition challenges students and all levels of graduated landscape architects to design and construct creative nohonga - seat designs - for the citizens of Tāmaki Makaurau. Boffa Miskell teams have been finalists in all three years of the competition.

Following the 2020 theme of Reflection, and Te Ao Hurihanga – Climate Resilience in 2022, this year's competitors were asked to respond to the theme of Haumanu – Renewal / Restoration.

The team of Zak Kelland, Nicole Tune and Hamish Murphy used Ka mua, ka muri — a whakatauki that means "walking backwards into the future" — as the title and inspiration for their nohonga, which expresses the intricate life-cycle of a tree, unveiling its transformative journey through five distinct phases.

 Crafted from rimu slats and salvaged redwood, each segment tells a story – the towering trunk of Te Wao Nui, the timber slats of Te Rauemi, the form of Te Waka, and the sanctuary of Te Whare. Its alternating orientation provides individuals with the opportunity to align themselves with either Ka Mua or Ka Muri, inviting introspection and engagement with the timeless rhythm of nature’s cycles.

 The designers were assisted by Scott Geddes of Auckland Tree Services, Cathy Challinor with design support, Andi Suryadharma with construction support, and Boffa Miskell.

Zak White, Jo Kearney and Alfred Chan collaborated on The Wave. The design is centred on renewal and balance through the cycle of nature and time, and this seat provides opportunity to engage instinctively through natural human interaction.

A kinetic element of the bench creates a gentle wave motion then returns to a resting form. The design needs human interaction in order to start the oscillations of the components. 

The Wave represents a connection to the cycles of the seasons, moon and tide, embodying our interdependency with these elements, with its undulating form resetting and rebalancing. Made from accoya timber and steel, the Resene stains reflect the different stages of the pine: its foliage, bark, fresh-cut and weathered.

 The designers were assisted by Urban Effects on Fabrication and Construction, ITI NZ | Accoya on Timber Supply, Coastwood on CNC services, and Mitchell Vranjes, Engineering Consultant.