A relaxing and revitalising hub at Auckland’s Sylvia Park Shopping Centre

Sylvia Park is evolving from a suburban internalised mall-style retail precinct to a mixed use, metropolitan centre. We worked with Kiwi Property and the architectural design team of Woods Bagot and Peddlethorp to refresh the urban realm landscape design.

With the introduction of urban scaled towers and their associated pedestrian-based public realm, there was an opportunity to further improve pedestrian connectivity between Mount Wellington Highway and The Grove dining precinct.

“Removing the existing roundabout and replacing it with a signalised intersection on Te Kehu Way creates more space for people and increases the number of direct, safe crossing points for pedestrians,” says project lead Yoko Tanaka.

The consented tower developments will populate the area near the intersection with commercial, retail and hospitality destinations, so a pedestrian-focused safety improvement of the intersection would be desired to accommodate the anticipated increase of the pedestrian flow.

“The signalisation of the intersection, and removing the roundabout, also enables tightening of the roading geometries,” explains Yoko. “And that increases the public realm zone at all sides of the intersection.”

Additionally, there was a desire to improve the microclimate of The Grove dining precinct, which was often affected by wind, significantly limiting use of this key public space. The growing number of workers and residents at Sylvia Park makes this space increasingly important as part of the shared public realm.

Now called Sylvia Lane, the reimagined space has a new ‘open roof’ canopy which offers greater protection for patrons of the 12 restaurants, bars and cafes that surround the central space. New lighting and sculptures have been added, while a number of existing trees — including pohutukawa, Nikau palm and a London plane tree — were retained within the refreshed landscape design.

For further information please contact Yoko Tanaka, Gina Langridge, Dana Hills or Rachel de Lambert