Unitec Department of Architecture Students—24 July 2013

Unitec is an Auckland based institute of technology with a dual commitment to post graduate and degree level study as well as vocational education and training.  This real world approach to education makes Unitec graduates highly sought by employers.

CUE Haven has had a long relationship with Unitec.  For several years, Unitec ecology students have been coming out for a field trip where they learn more about a native forest restoration project.  And since 2012, Unitec ecology students have been doing parts of their field practicum work on site at CUE Haven.

One of our long term plans for CUE Haven has been to build a visitors’/education centre for the community, and we were thrilled when the Unitec School of Creative Industries and Business approached us to explore the possibility of working with CUE Haven to give students an opportunity to develop practical solutions for the design, development and funding of the visitors’/education centre.

Today Jeanette Budgett, senior lecturer from Unitec’s School of Architecture, brought out a group of year three architecture students for a site visit. The idea was for the students to learn more about what we are trying to accomplish and to see the physical geography of the site in order to come up with creative ideas for the CUE Haven visitors/education centre.

The group arrived at about 9:30am and included Jeanette and students Alexis, Anthony, Carleone, Chanel, Geoff, Georgina, Jamie, Jordyn, Kim, Mark, Natasha, Ratu, Rebekah, Shirong, Sudhir and Tom.

Over morning tea we got acquainted and provided the students with some background on our project and our plans for the future.

We then took the group on a drive and the students spent time exploring the area and looking for possible building sites.

Once they’d had a chance to explore the site and get a feel for the location, the group walked back to the cottage via the gully walking track.

They spent some time discussing their initial impressions and thoughts over lunch.

After lunch, the group had lots of energy and decided to head back into the field to plant some trees.

Once we got to the planting site, Tom gave the group a quick overview of planting techniques and safety procedures, and they went to work.

The group did in-fill planting of long-lived trees such as totara, puriri, titoki and taraire.  These trees will live for hundreds of years, so before doing any architectural work, the group has already made a long lasting contribution to CUE Haven. Thank You for your help today.

We had an interesting and fun day with the team and we know that they are going to come up with some fantastic ideas.  We look forward to working with them and future groups from Unitec as we continue to make our dreams for CUE Haven a reality.

Our many thanks to Jeanette for developing the project idea and organising today’s visit and a big thank you to the students for their time and enthusiasm. We look forward to seeing their concept designs in a couple of weeks.