Arcadia has crossed the Tasman to open a studio in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland. Arcadia New Zealand will be led by renowned landscape architect, Mike Thomas, who will work closely with Arcadia’s Managing Director and Lincoln University alumni, Michael Barnett.
Auckland will be Arcadia’s seventh studio location, the first outside of Australia for the design practice. Having built a reputation as a leader in Australia for their award-winning projects and First Nations design approach, Arcadia eager to align this approach with New Zealand bi-cultural design practice.
“Many of our collaborators were founded in New Zealand or have presence here, and with an increasing number of opportunities to work together on projects, we recognised that the time was right to launch Arcadia in Auckland, with industry expert Mike Thomas leading the new studio,” says Michael Barnett, Managing Director of Arcadia.
Mike Thomas joins Arcadia with nearly 30 years practice experience in New Zealand, Hong Kong and China. For the last 20 years Mike led a leading design practice in New Zealand, earning a reputation as one of the country’s leading designers specialising in public realm, infrastructure, and regenerative design.
“The chance to establish a new design studio in New Zealand is a once-in-a-career opportunity for me to leverage my accumulated experience and my alignment with the cultural design approach that is embedded in Arcadia’s DNA. Arcadia is a design practice with an innovative approach to landscape architecture which complements the way I approach my own work, pursuing the opportunities that unlock great projects for our clients and communities,” says Mike Thomas, Principal, Arcadia Auckland.
We have some of the best landscape architects in the world practicing in New Zealand, and with the establishment of an international studio, our local team can draw on the diverse thinking and experience of 80 plus landscape architects and urban designers. Drawing on the resources of Arcadia’s other studios we have the capacity to deliver projects of any size or scale, led by a NZ-based team with the local knowledge needed to balance a solid understanding of regulatory frameworks with intricate cultural and community nuance.”
Managing Director Michael Barnett is excited by the potential in a market that he knows so well.
“I was born and raised on the Canterbury Plains and while I’ve been based in Sydney for 20 years, I’ve always had the desire to bring Arcadia’s design approach and expertise to projects in Aotearoa New Zealand. At Arcadia, our industry-leading approach to Indigenous collaboration spans the entire design process, allowing us to weave cultural threads through each project and I believe there is alignment in our thinking and processes, and the cultural design approach often applied to landscapes in New Zealand.”
Arcadia’s studio is located in Britomart in central Auckland.
Britomart Place
Level 10/11 Britomart Place,
Auckland CBD, Auckland 1010
Email: miket@arcadiala.com.au
Phone: +64 21 713 173
