Giving Takapuna the "wow" factor
Takapuna’s main street is no longer a dark, cluttered, unwelcoming thoroughfare.
A recent $12 million upgrade has seen Hurstmere Road on Auckland’s North Shore transformed into an airy social space; one welcoming to pedestrians, where shoppers linger to chat and spend instead of rushing along; one where workers gather to eat their lunch and indulge in people watching.
Aerial photo looking north. More space for people and less for cars. Photo credit: Simon Devitt
“The project was about creating space for people and how to achieve that in a highly contested permanent street environment,” says James Paxton from Reset Urban Design, who led the design team. “The design is relatively simple but doing simple well is very difficult. The focus was on creating a vibrant, safe and inviting street for people – providing wide accessible footpath,seating areas with shading, new planting and more opportunities to occupy the street.”
The boldest move was removing half the carparks and making Hurstmere Rd into a one-way street. It’s reduced vehicular traffic by half, but as with most bold moves there was some initial resistance, especially from the business community. “To be honest I don’t think a lot of people were on board until it was completed and they could see how it was working,” says Paxton. “They could see they didn’t necessarily need to have carparks right in front of their shop and I think they also appreciated we were creating more opportunities for pedestrians to spend time on the street, obviously more time on the street leads to more spend.”
Wide warm footpaths with vibrant blue street furniture – very Takapuna. Photo credit: Simon Devitt
In keeping with its beachside location natural warm and earthy toned materials and surfaces are used with pebbles and shells added to finishes to provide texture. There are many opportunities to dwell in the form of tables and seating.
Where Hurstmere Green rises up from the beach to intersect with Hurstmere Road a bold zig-zag paving pattern that perhaps reminds one of a Burle Marx Rio promenade or referencing the volcanic lava flows found along Takapuna Beach from the eruption of the nearby Lake Pupuke volcano. Floating timber planters combine with abstract boulders or bollards, giving the central square a surreal, plaza-like quality.
A mix of new native street trees, lush under planting, rain gardens and existing mature trees line the street. Photo credit: Simon Devitt
Reset’s director, Garth Falconer, points to the design’s environmental performance. Roadside rain gardens are part of a total refit of the stormwater system, taking out the majority of pollutants before the water flows down to the nearby beach. That component of the design was a key consideration for Mana Whenua, Auckland Council and the wider community.
Falconer says the project represents a resourceful and economical treatment of the main street, achieved by simplifying surfaces - exposed aggregate is used extensively - and reusing planting where possible, although exotic species were replaced with natives.
A contraflow cycle lane to allow cyclists to travel north & south along the one-way street. Photo credit: Simon Devitt
A flush contra-flow cycle lane, not yet common in New Zealand but widely used overseas, has been installed. Contra-flow lanes are used in town centres and areas with limited road corridor space and high pedestrian numbers as they keep bikes off the footpaths. They enable people on bikes to travel safely in both directions in a one-way street environment. People on bikes travelling north share the slow speed general traffic lane. The contra-flow lane is not physically separated from the carriageway and is separated from the footpath by a low mountable kerb. It’s a lighter colour to the asphalt to clearly distinguish it. . “It didn’t need to be a heavily protected, raised or separate cycle lane in this slow speed street and it all works together to give us this one cohesive, flush space where people can cross the road at any point, no obstacles or barriers; it’s just opened the whole street up,” says Paxton.
An open, vibrant beachside retail destination that is focused on people. Photo credit: Simon Devitt
“To me the wow factor is the plaza front,” says Falconer. “That zig-zag centre piece with the floating timber. There’s no parking, it’s where those square bollards are. It’s where the beach meets the town.”
It’s also where Reset Urban Design has its office. The perfect place to admire their handiwork every day.
