Te Kapua Park Playground

NZILA Te Karanga O Te Tui Supreme Award — 2024

The Te Kapua Park Playground successfully and respectfully provides a platform to tell locally specific stories and history, offering significant play value comparable to destination playgrounds with far greater delivery budgets. The project brief was to develop a playground in co-design partnership with Ngāti Tūrangitukua that is strongly tied to local themes and context, providing a specifically Tūrangi experience that tells a cultural and historical story of the district.

Aerial taken over northern play area

Throughout the duration of the project, Ngāti Tūrangitukua were actively engaged as part of the collaborative design and delivery process. This engagement ensured a high level of cultural design expression and artistic excellence. The project has also been successful in ensuring high levels of consultation and engagement, incorporating custom design play elements alongside off-the-shelf pieces, seeking innovative approaches to procurement and construction, achieving a wide range of sustainable outcomes, and offering play opportunities for children of all abilities.

Custom challenge play feature

The project has been extremely well received by the local community, project partners, and fellow professionals alike. It offers a wonderful play experience and a level of cultural learning and understanding, not just for the children but across all generations who visit the space. The total project approach and outcomes encompass the key values sought from the NZILA awards process and offer a high level of representation for the industry.

Cultural design patterns beneath social swing

The contribution of Bespoke to this play space project was a catalyst to build trust, previously lacking between the Council and tangata whenua, while developing a recreational and educational community asset. This required time, but the pride and success of the project is the creditable outcome of co-design, understanding and care. Located on Ngāti Tūrangitukua land in Tūrangi, Te Kapua Park Playground was a partnership between Bespoke Landscape Architects, Ngāti Tūrangitukua and the client team of Taupo District Council.

Landscape Architects: Bespoke Landscape Architects

Clients: Taupō District Council and Ngāti Tūrangitukua

Cultural design: Te Maari Gardiner & Tururangi Rowe.