Dusk-to-dawn field trip connects students with landscape

Forty-three Lincoln University landscape design students took a whirlwind day trip recently to learn new ways of thinking about the land.

The bus tour, which started at 6am and finished at 10pm, took the group from Taumutu in the Selwyn District to Lake Heron in the Southern Alps and kicked off the second-year landscape design students first professional year of study.

Landscape Architecture Associate Professor Mike Barthelmeh, who co-organised the trip, says the aim of the tour was to introduce students to particular aspects of the New Zealand landscape.

"These places may or may not have been familiar to them, but we wanted them to consider the landscapes with new senses - those of landscape architects."

School of Landscape Architecture senior lecturer Dr Wendy McWilliam says the sites formed the basis for the students to practise their inventory and analysis skills.

"They were also able to explore the concept of place, develop their own sensitivities to the special qualities and character of different places, and begin to investigate their design responses to the landscape."

Dr McWilliam says activities included recognising cultural heritage in the Methven landscape, sketching a section of some of the key resources at Timber Yard Point, drawing wildlife and their habitats at the Rakaia River, making a sketch of the Hakatere Station layout and listing the resources required to process food at the Hakatere Conservation Park.

The students were also asked to be attuned to their connections with nature and their surroundings.

Mori Studies lecturer Lloyd Carpenter, a guest speaker on the trip, says he spoke about the importance of Lake Ellesmere/Te Waihora and Maori Lakes - O Tu Wharekai as food resources.

"The kaitiakitanga, or stewardship, of the resources and their environment was critical to both the health of the resources and therefore the health of the people."

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Dusk-to-dawn field trip connects students with landscape