Meditations of a landscape architect

by Metropol | October 28, 2026 8:33 am

From the founder of design-led architecture practice Isthmus, which masterminded the Avon River regeneration, David Irwin’s first book stories the life of a landscape architect in Aotearoa.

David Irwin is a landscape architect, a founding principal of Isthmus Group and a Fellow of the New Zealand Institute of Landscape Architects Tuia Pito Ora. Across four decades of practice, he has helped shape some of Aotearoa New Zealand’s most significant and challenging landscape architecture and urban design projects. Isthmus was behind the Avon River regeneration and Ōtākaro Avon River Corridor’s Dallington Bridge. In October at New Zealand’s leading gallery dedicated to the fields of design, craft and architecture, Objectspace, David Irwin launched his first book Meditations of a Landscape Architect. Inside, he moves between design and everyday life, considering what matters; what we choose to change and what might be better left alone.

Essays developed at different moments through David’s practice document a process of looking, writing, drawing, making, designing, building and questioning as he works through the things he is still trying to understand. Horizons, cities, coastlines, oceanscapes, coffee, drawing, family and home all become ways of thinking about what design is and what it might be for. They are paired with David’s photography, drawn from years of practice and travel.

His work has involved design leadership across complex multidisciplinary teams and spans urban development, town centres, coastal landscapes, public spaces, and residential planning. Alongside leading a design studio and his own professional practice, he has continued to write, photograph, draw and test ideas through the work itself.

Source URL: https://metropol.co.nz/meditations-of-a-landscape-architect/

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