Stonefields is Auckland’s most extensive master-planned community, encompassing 11,000 acres. Originally home to one of the largest Maori settlements in Aotearoa, Stonefields is a site of unique cultural and ecological significance. Historically, the area comprised two active volcanoes, Maungarei and Te Tauoma, which were sacred sites for the Maori. Lava from Te Tauoma flowed directly into a wetland, creating ideal conditions for the formation of basalt. This basalt was harvested by the Maori to build agricultural terraces that created microclimates for food production.

As contemporary Auckland began to grow, the Te Tauoma volcano was transformed into the Mount Wellington quarry and its basalt was used as a locally sourced building material. In the mid-1990s the quarry was decommissioned and deemed a brownfield. Ten years later, as the city continued to expand toward the Metropolitan Urban Limit (MUL), the quarry was identified as a potential site for remediation and subsequent development.  

A multidisciplinary team devised a new development paradigm at Stonefields that is both ecologically and culturally sensitive. A landscape framework based on a series of rain gardens that culminate in a wetland treatment park became the bones for the development. An open-space network of eleven park reserves and a series of planted boulevards helps to knit this system together. Ecology has been used as key design language,  and each park showcases an ecological process—ranging from water cleaning to distinct volcanic plant ecologies.

Stonefields incorporates vernacular Maori landscapes throughout. In addition, the project acknowledges the quarry that helped shape the landscape by reusing basalt originally mined on-site. In the Wetland Park, stone terraces evoking the ancient Maori stonefields frame new picnic gathering spaces, which harken back to the historic agricultural and culinary roots of the site. Stormwater runoff is passed over stone gabions and boulders, celebrating the passing of water through rock before entering a water body, as prescribed by ancient Maori tradition. Meandering boardwalks float above the treatment wetlands, delineating spaces for water collection, treatment, and cleaning, while promoting habitat creation through sedimentation and planting. Visitors are encouraged to engage with these systems without interfering with the natural processes.

Location: Auckland, New Zealand

Status: Completed 2013

Project Type: Master Plan, Parks

Client: Todd Property Group

Collaborators: Woods Engineering, Natural Habitats

Photography: Marion Brenner

Awards

Urban Land Development Excellence Award, 2011

Institute of Landscape Architects Award of Excellence, 2010