It takes a village - nature trail, bike track and artwork transforms a public reserve

26 Jan 2022

What started as an empty grassed reserve is now a vibrant community space in Auckland’s Blockhouse Bay with its own stage and a custom-designed mural, painted in Resene paints.

Miranda Reserve in Glenavon, Auckland now also boasts a nature trail, a bike and scooter track, a four-square grid and large balance beams. The mural by Samoan comic artist Michel Mulipola was developed through extensive co-design with locals. The artwork features themes of community and whānau as well as greetings in more than 25 languages.

Michel says the design inspiration came as a result of community collaboration to come up with the strong, graphic image of interlinked arms. He started with a digital design and then projected the image onto the wall, drew the outline with markers and then painted it in using brushes. Michel used Resene Kakapo, Resene Bowie, Resene Biscuit Brown, Resene Carpe Diem and Resene Hairy Heath to create the vibrant 3m by 5m artwork.  The reserve was given a renovation to make way for a 15m-deep shaft for Watercare’s Central Interceptor project- a $1.2 billion new underground wastewater tunnel. A micro-tunnel boring machine is expected to tunnel its way to the shaft in December and work is due to be completed at the reserve by the end of 2023.

The community worked on the overall design of the space with the Whau Local Board and Arts Whau, Watercare, Kāinga Ora, Community Waitakere, Glenavon Community Hub, Glenavon Community Trust and Auckland Council. Locals of all ages attended a series of workshops and developed a plan for the best use of the space.

Published: 26 Jan 2022