isthmus conference 2012

While most of our staff live and work in the SuperCity, Isthmus has two smaller studios in Wellington and Tauranga.  It is important to us that we stay connected, and we do that in a number of ways throughout the year. But once a year we take a day out of the business, close the studio doors and come together off-site to share a cross section of the work we have done, have a forum for open discussion with the directors, visit recent built work, compete for the Isthmus Cup, and have a drink or two. 

Towards the end of last year, the Isthmus team got together at the excellent Catalina Cafe in the middle of Hobsonville Point, one of our largest and longest running projects. The day started with coffee, scones and a state-of-the-nation address from our CE Katrina Kidson. Katrina gave us a overview of the challenges and triumphs of a difficult past year and took a look forward to what 2013 might hold for Isthmus. 2013 is feeling like a more positive year across the profession, with the Auckland market looking stronger and signs of the Christchurch central city rebuild gearing up. Katrina’s presentation was followed by an open-floor question and answer session with the Board of Directors and some lively discussion around the opportunities and challenges of the year ahead. 

Hobsonville Point Park

Next up, each of our staff did their “3-2-1” presentation; three slides, two minutes, one project. This is always a great session and the good way of sharing the diversity of project work our team have been working on across the country. Projects ranged in scale from bespoke items of street furniture, to plans for parks, reserves, and urban developments right up to regional-scale landscape assessments. What connected this diverse range of projects was the particular mix of innovation, creativity, clarity and excellence in which the work had been approached and presented. 

After a good lunch and a site tour of Hobsonville, we formed teams for the Isthmus Cup Challenge (a legendary Isthmus tradition that dates back way before anyone can remember). This time it was not indoor multi-sports, ten-pin bowling, archery or guerilla gardening, but a ‘Race to Base’ GPS challenge which has us running around Hobsonville Point solving problems, engaging in aerial acrobatics, befriending strangers, stalking other teams and decoding cryptic puzzles. After a few years in the wilderness, young David Irwin managed to get his name back on the cup in style, easily beating all the other teams. Well done to his talented team of followers Karen, Penny, Dan and Danbi for managing to keep up!

the winners

no Photoshop was used in the creation of this image

a rare cultivar of Hydrangea macrophylla

The bus trip back to town took us via the Totara Creek site. This enormous reserve project, currently midway through construction, weaves through the middle of the future Massey North town centre. Isthmus associate Grant Bailey, who has been leading the project over the last few years, talked about how a landscape-led approach had been used to add significant amenity and biodiversity values to this large stormwater project. The innovative timber crib wall structures that are emerging out of the ground have real presence and scale; they perform a key role in the overall structure and function of the reserve, and will soon contain the stormwater catchment ponds and recreational amenities. 

The Isthmus team behind one of Totara Creek’s timber curvaceous timber crib walls.

Towards the end of the afternoon we headed to the Viaduct Basin for a night cruise on the Waitemata Harbour where we enjoyed a barbecue and a few beers somewhere off Mototapu Island. As ever, it was great to spend time in each others company and to share the trials and tribulations of a difficult year, and look forward with optimism to the next.