Ponsonby Park +

PARK+ Ponsonby, Auckland Design Statement 10.05.2018 _ Our vision is to sensitively and adaptively re-use 254 Ponsonby Road's existing structures and features to create a unique, hybrid open space and destination that captures the urbanity, spirit and sense of place of Ponsonby Road. PARK+ weaves together the street (urban) and park (green) to re-program the site through the fluid interaction of open space, architecture, community and place.  Ponsonby is iconic, diverse and urban. Ponsonby Road is its main organising spine, and connective tissue traces a historical walking route between Karangahape Road (south) and To kaa - Pt Erin Headland (north). The street is both a corridor for movement and a place of interaction and exchange that supports the unique character, walkability and sociability of Ponsonby Ponsonby is a place of continuous transformation, re-inventing and re-discovering itself through it’s rich layers of natural, cultural and social history. Our aspiration is to contribute to this dynamic and on-going re-invention. PARK+ will reflect contemporary values of democracy, inclusiveness and sustainability through a simple, but rich, sequence of interwoven internal and external public spaces. Ponsonby needs a dynamic new public space that is strategically located and equipped to simultaneously compliment and counter-balance the street and to emerge over time via a choreographed program of intervention, occupation and event. The Park+ project has been developed through a community led consultation and open competition and refined through further stakeholder consultation and discussion with the local community board and Council . The combination of traditionally binary public and private activities enables a high performance landscape and the potential for a self funding governance model that enables a multitude of site occupations and activities and new definitions of park and publicness. As the project moves into its next design phases the shared design objectives provide a foundation for decision making, governance and further design exploration. A defining approach for Park+ is the idea that it will emerge over time via a choreographed program of intervention, occupation and event. This enables an ongoing relationship and dialogue with the community and the projects participants beyond completion of a built project through an ongoing system of adaptable and collaborative interactions. End _.