Future Visions
Reimagining the Racecourse
Every year, Unitec’s Landscape Architecture and Architecture students join forces to help communities across Auckland create alternative development plans that prioritize climate resilience and community aspirations. This year, the school kindly agreed to assist Avondale by providing an important community-lead design for the racecourse development.
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Community-led vision for the future of the Avondale Racecourse.
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In June 2025, groups of Landscape Architecture and Architecture students presented the results of their six-week collaboration involving site analysis and the development of a masterplan that responds to the community’s strong preferences for attention to flooding, retention of green space, a balanced housing approach, multi-use community facilities and retention of the Avondale Sunday Market.
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The example below is just one of the designs demonstrating the level of talent at Unitec’s schools of Landscape Architecture and Architecture.
The students roes to the challenge - ensuring that a full range of community needs are met. These include playing fields, nature reserves, active playgrounds, performance spaces, and more. At the same time, they have addressed how the site’s levels need to be adjusted to help manage and redirect flooding, as well as planning appropriate planting.
“This is such an important asset to the West, and it’s great that we can support the community in advocating for good design and an equitable use of the land,” said Associate Professor Matthew Bradbury.
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Local urban designer Tracy Ogden- Cork described the student work as “impressive in both creativity and communication,” sparking rich discussion about how the land might serve future generations.
Most of the groups prioritized flood resilience strategies when placing the locations of the proposed buildings, as well as environmental considerations in terms of the orientation of buildings to maximize solar control - bringing the sun in during the winter and keeping it out in the summer - where floor plans for the urban village will reflect on this in the final crit,” said Dr. Sameh Shamout