Arcadia opens Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland Studio

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Mike Thomas, Arcadia Auckland Principal, with Michael Barnett, Arcadia Managing Director. Image: Supplied

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The Sales Ring Playground has been designed for use by children of all ages, with play features that will appeal to the unique needs and stage of development. Image: Paul McMillan

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Wadanggari Park is a highly complex project that has been constructed over the North Shore railway line. Image: Paul McMillan

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Arcadia New Zealand will be led by well-known landscape architect, Mike Thomas, who will work closely with Managing Director and Lincoln University alumnus, Michael Barnett.

Auckland will be Arcadia’s seventh studio location, the first outside of Australia for the design practice. Having built a reputation as a leader in Australia for their award-winning projects and First Nations design approach, Arcadia is eager to align this approach bi-cultural design practice in New Zealand.

“Many of our collaborators were founded in New Zealand or have presence here, and with an increasing number of opportunities to work together on projects, we recognised that the time was right to launch Arcadia in Auckland, with industry expert Mike Thomas leading the new studio,” says Michael Barnett, Managing Director of Arcadia.

Mike Thomas joins Arcadia with nearly 30 years practice experience in New Zealand, Hong Kong and China. For the last 20 years Mike led a well-known design practice in New Zealand, earning a reputation as one of the country’s leading designers specialising in public realm, infrastructure and regenerative design.

“The chance to establish a new design studio in New Zealand is a once-in-a-career opportunity for me to leverage my accumulated experience and my alignment with the cultural design approach that is embedded in Arcadia’s DNA. Arcadia is a design practice with an innovative approach to landscape architecture which complements the way I approach my own work, pursuing the opportunities that unlock great projects for our clients and communities,” says Mike Thomas, Principal at Arcadia Auckland.

Arcadia was the landscape architect for Barangaroo Station, a significant new station in the Sydney Metro network. The project required consultation and collaboration with a multitude of stakeholders, including local Elders and First Nations Knowledge Holders. Image: Brett Boardman

Thomas continues, “We have some of the best landscape architects in the world practising in New Zealand. With the establishment of an international studio, our local team can draw on the diverse thinking and experience of 80-plus landscape architects and urban designers. Drawing on the resources of Arcadia’s other studios, we have the capacity to deliver projects of any size or scale, led by a New Zealand-based team with the local knowledge needed to balance a solid understanding of regulatory frameworks with intricate cultural and community nuance.”

Managing Director Michael Barnett is excited by the potential in a market that he knows so well.

“I was born and raised on the Canterbury Plains and while I’ve been based in Sydney for 20 years, I’ve always had the desire to bring Arcadia’s design approach and expertise to projects in Aotearoa New Zealand. At Arcadia, our industry-leading approach to Indigenous collaboration spans the entire design process, allowing us to weave cultural threads through each project and I believe there is alignment in our thinking and processes, and the cultural design approach often applied to landscapes in New Zealand.”

Arcadia’s studio is located in Britomart in central Auckland.