DAVID ENGWICHT
INTERVIEW
Where or
what is your first memory of place?
I have very
few memories of place as a child. My father was an itinerant gospel preacher
and we moved from town to town. I felt like an outsider for all of my childhood,
right into my teens, which may seem like a strange background for someone who
goes on to become a place maker. But I
had to learn to carve out a sense of place inside my own psyche. I had to be at
home with myself. So place for me was solitary, private spaces.
What do
you think of the term ‘placemaking’?
I think it
is a great term, although like all terms, it is in the process of becoming
subverted and watered down by those who take a “design-centric” approach to
place. Place is first and foremost a feeling, not a location. For me place making
is like home making, where the homemaker turns a house into a home.
When
thinking of place, how do you approach the process of design?
Design is a
carriage at the back of the place making train, never the engine. I am
passionate about great design. But if design drives place making all you end up
with is a “display home” not a genuine sense of place. Poor people are often
much better homemakers than rich people, because they must “furnish their home
with soul”. When designing I often consider what I would do if I had only half
the budget. This forces you to think about furnishing the space with soul and
imagination.
I also look
for what is bringing the space down. You can get 98% of a design right, but 2%
wrong can totally destroy the sense of place. I try to identify that 2% and fix
it. I also believe that turning deficits into assets is the best way to give a
place a point of difference.
What do
landscape architects need to understand about New Zealand to practice here?
It is not
just about New Zealand. They need to understand that landscape architecture is
not primarily about aesthetics, or the imposition of order, or of the
utilitarian functions to be performed by the space. The key question is, “How
can this space nurture the people who are exposed to it? How can it help them
reach their highest potential? How can it create memorable experiences that are
potentially transformative? How can it provoke creativity and innovation?
Place is
not always urban or within a cityscape. At what scale does placemaking begin?
At the
psychological level, in one brain. As stated earlier it is a “feeling”, a
feeling that one is safe and nurtured. It is connected to the first 9 months we
spent in the womb. It is a supportive environment in which we can grow into our
fullest potential.
Does
community consultation fit into your design process and where does the weight
sit – client, user, design process or intuition. Pie chart perhaps?
I believe
in an agile approach to planning – what I call “planning after use, not before
use”. The client generally only knows 20% of what they want. My job is to take
them on a journey of discovery. Providing you take small enough steps, you
don’t need long “conversations”. You do a bit, and then watch how the client
reacts to what you have done. The collaboration is in creating a product – not
drawing up plans. While there is some planning in the process, the emphasis is
on creating experiences of place, then seeing where these experiences take you.
I am constantly surprised that if you trust the process, you get an end product
that surpasses anything you could have masterplanned.
Do you
need consensus to make design decisions?
Not at all.
Set up trials and experiments. Objections are often based in ignorance of how a
space can work. This is a major drawback of the old masterplanning approach.
People have to react to a hypothetical situation and often simply react out of
fear of the unknown. Give them tasters rather than drawings.
It’s
simple to focus on supporting or easy to sway stakeholders to generate input to
satisfy a client’s desired outcome. How do you target consultation?
I try to
educate people about the basic principles of what makes a space work as a
place. Once they understand these principles it is much easier for them to take
a journey of discovery with you.
