Ideas flow for Parklands entrance improvement

May 26th, 2014
[by David Armstrong]

The High Street entrance to Parklands School will become a more inviting and usable space, thanks to ideas thrown into the melting pot by interested residents at Motueka's first place making session.

A disappointing number of about 15 people gathered at the school last Tuesday and Saturday to brainstorm concepts, big and small, that the school will consider to rejuvenate the 10m x 20m area between the museum forecourt (atea) and Patisserie Royale (see our earlier story here).

Part of the two sessions involved walking around the site and lots of arm waving as people suggested new path lines, garden areas, play areas and art works.

On Tuesday the museum curator Pauline Westall told the participants about the history of the school, the building which is now the museum and surrounding area in general - enlightening to everyone.

Then Shirley Frater, chair of the Motueka Arts Council, described the origins and meanings of the various art works and street art in the atea area.

This was followed by an explanation by the project co-ordinator and chair of the Parklands Board of Trustees, Marion Edwin, of the process of place making, which is a fun but structured way of eliciting ideas, usually ones which cost little to implement.

On Saturday the participants then used maps and papers plus walking around the site to throw a multitude of ideas into the mix. (See the photo below of one group at work.)

A quick look at the lists generated showed that several ideas recurred. These included:

some low pruning of the large tree so that more light can get in beneath, and night lighting up into the tree;
replacing the existing curved path behind the tree and fence with one pointing more directly to High Street and where the new pedestrian crossing is expected;
removing most of the remaining iron fence beside the existing path;
thinning out the undergrowth and opening up the bushy area in the back corner, beyond the path, to make places to walk and sit;
a set of mural panels breaking the view of the Patisserie Royale and schoolroom building walls,
other student art works on walls and fences;
a constructed play area around the big tree, with sitting areas around it;
more playful drawings, mosaics etc on the paths;
a grander, culturally appropriate entrance arch into the school itself at the western end of the space.

Marion will use a planning group which will use those ideas that seemed feasible and inexpensive and come up with an overall concept that will be put out for public consultation.

A lot of the construction work is expected to be done by volunteers in several steps, to ensure the whole project does not drag out and fall back on a few people to do most of the work.

No changes will be considered to the museum atea while TDC is still considering the future of the museum building in the light of required but expensive earthquake strengthening. However, the place making group did have suggestions on how to make the atea more inviting without any big construction work.

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