Artists bring culture to skate plaza

August 2022

With construction of Flaxmere’s new skate plaza well underway, behind the scenes the design of the cultural elements that will be included is also going on at a quick pace.

The design is being developed by artist collective Iwi Toi Kahungunu, in response to input from a working group made up of Flaxmere students who were involved in the early planning process. In a presentation to Council mid-last year the group, made up of representatives from all Flaxmere schools, asked that skate plaza strongly reflect the culture of Pā Harakeke.

Iwi Toi had taken up the challenge, building the design around the whakapapa of the Ngaruroro River and how, historically, multiple strands of the river converged to a single strand in the area that is now the site of Flaxmere Park, says Iwi Toi Kahungunu artist Alex Heperi.

The path of the Ngaruroro River was altered significantly as a result of a major flood in the late 1800s, which steered the river to its current path. Historically, the Ngaruroro River was a highway for trade, and the artists have chosen to represent this through the incorporation of materials that have an industrial aesthetic and design elements of waka and traditional Polynesian voyaging vessels and items.

Further design elements will reflect Pā Harakeke, the original name for Flaxmere; in things like the balustrade designs and the forms of the Pou and Waharoa, and natural plantings will play homage to the harakeke plants that grew in abundance along the riverbanks.

The aim of the artist collective is to provide a space where tamariki and rangatahi are able to enjoy themselves while also exposing them to historical information in a bright, contemporary and inclusive manner.

The waharoa (entranceway) will be a contemporary design that reflects the area’s history and its modern-day use, made from laser-cut corten steel panels.

A central pou, three metres in height, will also be made from corten steel, laser cut to create a lightbox effect in the centre of the skate area.

The skate plaza surface will help tell the story of the origins of the Ngaruroro River and include traditional whāriki (woven mat) designs; a mixture of taki toru, kaokao and pātiki, to symbolise protection and manaakitanga - welcoming people to the space.

The input of the youth working group was not limited to cultural elements. They were involved in planning the ‘flow’ of the skate plaza, and impressed upon councillors that they wanted the facility to have shade, be a place where parents would also enjoy to encourage them to spend time there, be smoke, drug and alcohol-free, have a kaitiaki (like the William Nelson Skate Park in Hastings), and be fenced.