brick bay folly 2017: Te Takitaki
Sophie Edwards, Jayne Kersten, Tom Dobinson and George Grieve, interior landscape by Winston Dewhirst.
Te Takitaki inherited the position of guarding and surveying Brick Bay from from its predecessor, the Belly of the Beast. In situating the work on this steeply sloping hillside, the winning team imagined that the folly could take inspiration from a Maori palisade, a fence that assisted in the fortification of a key piece of land. While such fences had the practical task of defining inside and outside, they would often be comprised of sculpted objects. Personifying the palisade through the use of carved figures gave the sense that the fence itself was occupying the land and keeping watch.
Te Takitaki wraps around a hidden interior, protecting itself from an unknown enemy. The traditional characters of a palisade have withdrawn from the boundary of the fence to the inner sanctum of the courtyard. In pulling the figures / pou away from the woven fence, the folly seeks to extrapolate from a historic reading of the palisade, and further explore what it means for a structure to 'occupy' the land. As a visitor to the folly walking up this hill, you play the dual roles of an approaching stranger, and of one who becomes the protected occupant upon entry.
The Paramount Winner has been published in Architecture NZ magazine, distributed on the 9th of March 2017, as well as other AGM publications and international architecture and design websites and blogs.
The Top five finalists for the Brick Bay Folly 2017 were:
Te Takitaki by Jayne Kersten, sophie Edwards from Jasmax and Tom Dobinson and George Grieve from Pattersons Architects. This project draws from the inspiration from the structure of a Maori palisade, a fence that assisted in the fortification of a key piece of land.
The Lost Kina, by Thomas Seear-Budd and James Ross, graduates from Studio Pacific Architecture, uses 625 neglected road cones to compose a structural object standing approximately 8 metres tall.
Tickled pink, designed by Hannah Manning-Scott from Auckland Art Gallery and cameron Deynzer from Glamuzima Architects, incorporates interior chambers that focus the visitor's attention onto different parts of the landscape..
Arcadia emulates a typical visual language of an 18th or 19th century garden folly with reference to a Gothic vaulted archway. Rachael Piper and Ji Hye Lim from Warren and Mahoney Architects designed this concept.
An Appellation of Air locates itself within and of the environment, with its forms and fluctuations defined through the passing impressions of the wind and the hands of visitors. It is designed by nick Denton of Studio Pacific Architecture and Guy Newton from Architecture+.
In 2017 the jury consisted of Richard Didsbury and Jonathan Organ from Brick Bay, Karen Warman and Joanne Duggan from Resene, Richard Harris from jasmax, Justine Harvey from Architecture New Zealand, Dave Hunter from Fletcher Building, Tony Van Raat and Ryan Mahon, the 2016 co-winner.
