Unitec campus history : notions of therapy

Abstract

One of the great things about working in one place for a long time is that you really get to observe it in detail, in all the seasons and over the years and you get opportunities to soak up the character of the place.

I have taught at Unitec for 20 years and Landscape Architecture has been in 3 different buildings during that time.

Before that I worked for Brian Halstead & Assoc architects and landscape architects who were involved in repurposing some of the Carrington Psychiatric Hospital buildings and grounds for the then Carrington Polytechnic to use for educational purposes. I also live locally. So I have a long association with the site.

My seminar today centres on unpacking some of the layers of history of this place.

This is in order to consider the notion of the therapeutic landscape from the 19th century and how this has evolved over time to ideas today that the landscape is in need of therapy. The campus can be seen as a microcosm of these changing ideas.