Rosa Barba International Landscape Prize

John Hill

29. September 2014

Auckland Waterfront - North Wharf Promenade and Silo Park (Photo: Simon Devitt)

The winning prize at the 8th International Biennial of Landscape Architecture is Auckland Waterfront - North Wharf Promenade and Silo Park, in Auckland, New Zealand, designed by Taylor Cullity Lethlean (TCL) and Wraight + Associates (WA).

From 25 to 27 September the 8th International Biennial of Landscape Architecture took place in Barcelona, organized by Catalan Polytechnic University (UPC) and the Architects’ Association of Catalonia (COAC) under the theme "A Landscape for YOU." An important part of the three-day event was the presentation of the finalists* of the Rosa Barba International Landscape Prize, sponsored by Banc de Sabadell Foundation with an endowment of €15,000. Open to all kinds of landscape and planning projects created worldwide from 2009 to 2014, the prize was awarded to TCL and WA for the Auckland Waterfront - North Wharf Promenade and Silo Park.

Auckland Waterfront - North Wharf Promenade and Silo Park (Photo: Simon Devitt)

Comprised of North Wharf Promenade, Jellicoe Street and Silo Park, the Auckland Waterfront project, "involved the transformation of a decrepit industrial maritime site into a vibrant and diverse public precinct," per TCL. Perry Lethlean of TCL said upon winning the prize: "We’re extremely honored to win this prestigious award in what is the first time it has been opened to the international marketplace. The Rosa Barba Landscape Prize recognizes the world’s best in landscape architecture from the past five years, which was clearly evident in the caliber of outstanding shortlisted projects."

Auckland Waterfront - North Wharf Promenade and Silo Park (Photo: Simon Devitt)

TCL's design, realized in 2011 for the client Waterfront Auckland, consists of two major moves: "Retention and enhancing of fishing and maritime industries form the focus of new public experiences, and interpreting the site’s peculiar archaeology of patterns and materiality to inform a new public landscape," per the architects. Lethlean echoed this in his words on winning the prize: "It was an enjoyable design journey ... for its overlapping themes concerning friction, the ‘as found’ and reprogramming derelict artifacts."

A short film produced by TCL and WA on the design of the Auckland Waterfront:

*The 11 finalists for the prize, including the winner:

• Ballast Point, Philip Coxall, Birchgrave (Australia)
• Landscape Archeology for the Friendship Sreet, Pedro Camarena Berruecos, México City (México)
• Qunli Stormwater Park, Turenscape, Heilongjiang (China)
• Parque de Aranzadi, Iñaki Alday Sanz and Margarita Jover Biboum, Navarra (Spain)
• Folly Forest _ A Dance Floor for 100 Trees, Dietmar Straub and Anna Thurmayr, Manitoba (Canada)
• Termas Geométricas, German Del Sol Guzman, La Regiòn De Los Lagos (Chile)
• Queens Plaza, Margie Ruddick, New York City (USA)
• Making Space in Dalston, Johanna Gibbons, London (United Kingdom)
• Auckland Waterfront - North Wharf Promenade and Silo Park, Taylor Cullity Lethlean and Wraight + Associates, Auckland (New Zealand)
• The High Line, James Corner Field Operations, New York City (USA)
• The Landscape Restoration of the Vall d'en joan Landfill Site, Batlle | Roig, Barcelona, (Spain)