Define an inimitable vocabulary of place

“Celebrating the Auckland region’s diverse and plentiful flora, Botany Town Centre features parks, gardens, and waterways filled with lush landscaping including flowering trees and fruit trees. In the on-site conservatory large-scale sculpture depicts the Koury tree, one of the native rainforest’s most sacred specimens.”

Botany Town Center was envisioned as the civic heart of an emerging residential community in suburban Auckland. Extensive research and analysis revealed a palette of distinctive elements, experiences and relationships that form an inimitable vocabulary of place.  Building on the rich regional lexicon, The Town Center is organized as a series of distinct precincts that engage a central Square with secondary squares and courtyards connected by a system of pedestrian streets, lanes and passages.  While the Town Center’s design code ensures a unified sense of place, diversity within each of the districts orients the shopper as it invites discovery. Environmental principals informed the design including: the orientation of buildings, storm water management, measures to reduce light production and water use, and systems to optimize energy performance. The wet but mild climate allowed for open and partially protected structures, in addition to fully enclosed buildings, in order to eliminate the cooling load.

• 2003 ICSC International Design & Development Award Winner