Playful spaces win awards: Morgan + Pollard Landscapes
Christchurch based landscapers Morgan + Pollard Landscapes won several awards for two separate projects at the recent 2022 Landscapes of Distinction Awards held by Registered Master Landscapers.
The construction of Te Ara Ātea – Sensory Space and also design of Rolleston School Basketball Courts & Sports Wall were among 132 projects from around the country judged in the awards.
The company won the premier award in Landscape Construction and a gold medal in the Commercial Project: Construction Over $100,000 category for work on Te Ara Ātea – Sensory Space, at the Te Ara Ātea Library in Rolleston. The space includes a wheelchair-activated musical timber boardwalk and an individually placed river stone tactical ‘Rumblewalk’. Judges said the overall design has many carefully placed textures and elements of construction.
“Special attention has been paid to avoid sharp lipping and dangerous edges which could harm children, and these have been wonderfully set into place. Curved shapes with timber are never an easy undertaking and the carpentry skillset shown for the seating and the leading paths around the bold circles has been completed to a very high level with neatly laid out gaps and distances throughout,” said the panel.
Morgan + Pollard also won a 2022 Judges Recognition Award for work on the Rolleston School Basketball Courts & Sports Wall, creating a vibrant new multi-sport space. The recycled rubber surface uses more than 8000 recycled sneakers to bring new life to the concrete courts beneath, while the bespoke sports wall is a custom design feature that encourages the creation of entirely new ball sports as the children learn to play and adapt to the large void in the middle of the wall.
“The recycled rubber surface is a mosaic of colour, and the clever patterning not only delineates full-size and half-size basketball courts but sets up opportunities for other sporting activities. The new wall with its large window creates a perfect opportunity for children to invent new ball games,” said the judging panel.
