Our Free-Play Adventure Space brings excitement and creativity together, showcasing sculpted play hills, tunnels, an adventurous climbing obstacle track, rope nets, integrated climbing walls, a play tower with slide and sandpit, wooden balance beams, rocks, rope obstacles, and cozy natural log seating. Beautifully integrated greenery was used to provide shade, sensory delight, and a connection with nature. The vibrant and durable surfacing ensures the area is safe and accessible for children of every ability.

By combining creative landscape design with bespoke timber structures, our team created an imaginative space that encourages exploration and adventure. Key innovations include climbing obstacle courses thoughtfully embedded into playful hills, engaging rope structures, and sensory-rich planting areas. This fresh, creative approach transformed the playground into a dynamic and inviting outdoor learning space, promoting imaginative play, active movement, and overall student well-being completely revitalising the school environment for years ahead.

The Constellations Garden is an awe-inspiring landscape that brings cosmic storytelling to life. Four distinct areas represent planetary bodies, each showcasing intricate Corten steel cutouts symbolizing the school’s house mascots. These celestial zones orbit around a striking central ‘Sun’ sculpture, the symbolic “axis mundi” of the area. Railway sleepers and sculptural steel accents create a sense of depth and movement, while trees and layered plantings mimic planetary orbits and moons, adding a lush, dynamic dimension to the space. Adding to the celestial flow, specially designed floating benches seamlessly integrate with the decking, appearing as if they are in flux, echoing the fluid motion of the cosmos and enhancing the immersive experience.

Every design element was meticulously designed and crafted to align with the school’s academic focus, transforming a traditional courtyard into an interactive learning environment. Custom Corten steel artwork provides a visual narrative, reinforcing the connection between science and nature. Thoughtful planting selections mirror the diversity of planetary landscapes, while warm timber pathways create an inviting, structured flow seamlessly connecting old elements with new. The dynamic floating benches add a sculptural quality to the space, visually extending the movement of the decking and reinforcing the theme of constant cosmic motion. This project is a true example of how landscape architecture can merge education, creativity, and identity, offering an inspiring sanctuary for both learning and reflection.

The Kauri Flats Nature Play area features stunning timber cube structures, long sleeper-seating, railway sleepers multi-purposeful wall with wavy Corten seating, interactive water play area, and an inviting shaded sandpit designed to awaken curiosity and creativity. The thoughtful landscape incorporates natural rock arrangements, playful timber stepping logs over artificial riverbed, textured pathways, and serene seating nooks, promoting both active play and reflective moments. New Zealand native planting was proposed to outline and thrive it wetland area on which the school was built.

Our team utilised sustainable, durable materials, plants and intricate landscaping techniques to blend innovation and nature seamlessly. Unique design elements include custom timber cubes providing imaginative play zones, tactile and engaging water play stations, and harmonious plantings that enhance tranquillity. This creative design not only revitalises playtime but fosters a lasting connection with nature and joyful exploration for students and staff alike.

The addition of some new classrooms at Manurewa Intermediate provided a large courtyard space that needed a special design to create a multifunctional area for students and teachers to enjoy outside the classroom. Concrete pathways and wooden boardwalks provide an essential link between areas. The raised timber seating throughout the boardwalk adds a design element while allowing students to sit, contemplate and enjoy the gardens. Each garden design is uniquely spinning out from a central seating platform almost celestial like planets circling the sun. The Corten Steel cut-outs of the mascots for the four student houses play on the light, provide shadows, and compliment the colours of the timber. The vertical recycled timber sleepers provide a sculptural element and help to further define the spiralling effect of the Corten Steel feature panels. The planting is designed to remain low yet provide lovely green spaces growing in and around the sculptures in this unique Constellation Garden.

Glenbrae School wanted to re-vamp their front entrance making the area close to the road safer for the students, improving visibility of the school office area while also improving the safety in the carpark.
The front gardens had become overgrown with large native flaxes and cabbage trees. The school wanted to retain some of the established Nikau Palms and compliment them with smaller plants and shrubs to ensure the garden area remained low. By recessing the fencing at the front roadside, it allowed for an additional garden each side of the gate entrance adding colour and a break from the heavy fencing. By adding large macrocarpa slabs it provides seating areas and the Corten Steel planters help define the walkway while adding colour and a design element to a large concrete carpark. Overall, the front entrance is now a much safer, open, and warm inviting space.

The overall vision was to take a redundant space with too much concrete and transform it into a colourful and inviting area for staff and students to enjoy. It was important that the space be relaxing and peaceful by creating a natural, lush environment surrounded by plants and greenery.
The idea was to provide two areas’; a staff only space with some privacy to enjoy a moment away from the active part of the school and a secondary area to be shared by both teachers and students.
For the staff only courtyard area, the design was to use colour and planting to create a private oasis with seating and shade surrounded by greenery for staff to enjoy during breaktimes.
The secondary area was to be a shared space, used by both teachers and students for learning outside the classroom. It was important to provide some different elements to sit on, such as outdoor beanbags, grassed areas, and timber benches, for resting before and after classes. The shared space would need tables and chairs, and shade from the sun.
Overall, this area was to be a multi-purpose space, it needed to be able to accommodate outdoor classes, smaller events, as well as everyday socialising in a relaxed natural environment.

The client had a clear idea of what they wanted the space to become, this was an experiential learning area. A central space in the school but isolated from the main flow of student traffic providing a place for the children to explore, learn and experience a very different type of playground. The school principal had a vision from the start for a play area with a fairy garden theme. A place where the children will feel like they are small fairies exploring in the garden dwarfed by the large scale of the recreated natural elements. Creativity and resourcefulness were required by the project manager to find suitable materials which needed to be hardy and able to withstand the regular use of many children.  It was lovely to work with a principal who is passionate about her school, who understands what her pupils love and need and is willing to bring that to life.

St Ignatius required a design to uplift and beautify an empty space. Key considerations were a functional interactive playground for the younger children with an emphasis on native planting. A mature Pohutukawa tree was to be preserved and it was important to improve the visual appeal of this area. The area had a lack of purpose and no defined use with little connection between the classroom and courts. The finished result was the creation of a multi-purpose space with the focus being a purposeful path along with secret passages. This created varied and alternative ways to support children being creative in the way they move through the space, seen through fixed platforms, moving swinging bridge, sand pit, paving design and stepping logs representing an ancient forest.

The school wanted an outdoor BBQ area for the whole community to enjoy. As with other school projects, hard wearing and durable is always on the top of the list and in this case, easy to clean as well. The cooktop surfaces are granite, the BBQ doors are stainless steel and a six burner BBQ provides the cooking surface. The roof is clad with Red Cedar Shingle to continue the theme around the school grounds but was also chosen for its durability. The outdoor BBQ will be used for fundraising for school trips and as a place for teachers, parents and students to meet.

After the first meeting with Ross Deveraux, Principal of Royal Oak Intermediate, it was clear he wanted to address the outdoor areas to enhance the look and feel of the school. The school’s motto is ‘Enthusiastic Learning through life’ and surroundings play a large part in being enthusiastic about learning. A few areas were earmarked as most important; the entrance area, path up to the office, and an area between two buildings for outdoor classrooms. The designs for the areas were created and welcomed with enthusiasm. The first garden was installed in the school holidays, so as not to disturb pupils and teachers while in class. The transformation of a dull, grassed entry was transformed with a basalt block wall and a corten steel sign cut-out with the school’s name and logo. The beautiful, curved wall and sign are a very welcome addition to the entrance area and have been softened with mainly native planting to complement the existing Pohutukawa trees. The three trees behind the wall are columnar oaks to reflect the school’s name, Royal Oak.