Two Auckland public art projects have won gold at the 2026 Best Design Awards, putting everyday civic spaces into a national design conversation.
Waka Moana, in Wynyard Quarter, was recognised in the Toitanga category. Te Kopua o Hiku, the Panmure Basin footbridge artwork, won gold in the Spatial Lighting category. The awards were announced at the Viaduct Events Centre on 9 October.
The wins matter because both projects sit in public places rather than behind gallery walls. Waka Moana is a set of nine six-metre waka-shaped sculptures along Daldy Street, placed in a zig-zag formation through the eastern rain gardens. The work evokes voyaging across Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa and arrival on the shores of Tamaki Makaurau.
Lead artist Graham Tipene of Ngati Whatua Orakei, Ngati Kahu, Ngati Hine, Ngati Haua and Ngati Manu designed Waka Moana in partnership with mana whenua, working with a master waka builder and contributing artists. The result is both street infrastructure and cultural storytelling, asking people to notice the history and identity embedded in a daily walking route.
Te Kopua o Hiku carries a different but related civic role. The footbridge reconnects two sides of the Panmure Basin after the previous bridge was taken out of service in 2023. Its lighting moves with the wind, and its railings and deck surface draw on Maori and Croatian symbols of endurance and guardianship.
That bridge was delivered through collaboration involving Ngati Paoa Iwi Trust, Maungakiekie-Tamaki Local Board, Auckland Council Public Art and artists Janine Williams and Shannon Novak. The name Te Kopua o Hiku was gifted by Ngati Paoa.
Awards do not automatically make a public place work. Residents judge these projects by whether they feel safe, legible, meaningful and used. But national recognition can help Auckland make the case that public art is not decoration added after infrastructure. At its best, it is part of how a bridge, street or walkway tells people where they are.
For the city, the double gold is a reminder that design value can be found in daily routes: a footbridge across water, a path through Wynyard Quarter, and the stories people carry through both.
