Hayman Park Playground | Manukau
In 2010 Manakau City Council ran a design competition for the redevelopment of Hayman Park, a large open recreation space located close to the Manukau CBD. Wraight Athfield Landscape + Architecture (WALA) were selected as the competition winners. The competition concept design looked the park in its entirety and provided a sophisticated response to stormwater treatment and management, urban farming zone, strategy to deal with the overgrown and numerous trees, a new destination playground and refurbishment of the existing skatepark. The overall masterplan vision was subsequently modified to be implemented as part of a staged development with the first stage of the destination playground and refurbished skatepark, being completed in 2019.
The stage 1 playground works are focused along the eastern perimeter of the site and provides facilities for the growing community while improving connections between Hayman Park and the Manukau CBD. The brightly coloured children’s playground, visitor kiosk amenity building and canopy structure provide a splash vibrancy against the muted tones of the exiting trees. The playground and skatepark are a significant draw card for the park that provides a unique Manukau-specific destination for locals and visitors to the area.
The playground is designed to be inclusive of all ages and abilities, including wheelchair users and teenagers. The basketball half court flanks the central kiosk structure providing activation along Davies Ave. The playground is carefully configured around the existing trees and subtly reflects aspects of the rich Pacific culture of the area. The new path network connects into the existing park path network, creating vital links throughout the park.
Future stages of the playground will introduce a new skate and bike friendly flow bowl, ‘bump’ bike track for younger children and multi-purpose and multi-level play tower that offers a multitude of ways to play and explore amongst the tree canopies. The future play tower will form an important visual beacon for the park, particularly through its deliberate alignment with a key viewshaft from the city CBD.