Clifton Cricket Club

Nature is designed to sit alongside the manicured environment of a cricket ground, resulting in a wonderful community space for all to enjoy. The brief: Utilise an existing space that would embellish it’s quirks, ensure that it was a space for cricketers and no cricketers alike, and to have a real sympathy for the environment – all whilst remaining quintessentially Kiwi. Key features: Initial exploration uncovered the existing site’s potential far beyond the the ground itself. The site is located within a valley that host several springs seeping from the hills above. The stream opens to grazing that runs alongside the ground. This stretch of riparian waterway running adjacent to the ground is an environmental asset to both the working farm the ground sits within, as well the club and is now an aesthetic cornerstone of the project. Members of the public are drawn to the commitment the club has to the environment on arrival to the ground. It heightens the quintessential kiwi feel required of the brief. The oval has been cloaked in native riparian waterways to form a beautiful native corridor. Aside from it’s beauty, this has allowed the project to engage the non cricketing community to stake their ownership of the ground with the planting of over 10,000 native plants in the newly formed wetlands and fenced riparian waterways. The native  plantings are beginning to flourish making this project a continuing environmental evolution for the Te Awanga community.