Cooks Gardens, Whanganui, gets new ticket booth

UCOL senior lecturer of architectural technology and construction, Marshell Putu, Whanganui District Council's Venues & Events manager, Dana Burdett, Whanganui District Council's property and facilities team leader, Bob Henry, and UCOL's academic portfolio manager construction David Freebairn.

A new ticket booth for the St Hill Street entrance of Cooks Gardens was installed on Friday, June 16, after a collaboration between Whanganui District Council and Te Pūkenga.

Whanganui Venues & Events manager, Dana Burnett, says UCOL | Te Pūkenga was really receptive to working together from the first time she reached out to them.

“We started by working with the senior lecturer of architectural technology and construction, Marshell Putu, to develop a project brief, and architectural technology students used CAD (computer-aided design) software to create their designs.”

The designs were reviewed by Dana Burnett, along with the council’s general manager of community and customer experience, Marianne Cavanagh, taking into consideration functionality, movability, and weather resistance.

“Choosing one design was difficult but in the end, we selected Eifion Paul’s design because we liked the way the slope of the ticket booth roof aligned to the hill behind it and also how the colour scheme complemented Cooks Gardens Events Centre.”

Cooks Gardens' new ticket booth on the move.

Eifion Paul and the two runners-up – Jude Mitchell and Paul Snaith – worked together to create an architectural plan for the ticket booth.

Venues & Events then worked with UCOL’s academic portfolio manager construction, David Freebairn, and their level 3 carpentry learners to construct the ticket booth.

Paul says he’d like to say a “big thank you to the UCOL construction students who volunteered their time to make my drawings become a reality. “It’s so exciting to see that design will have practical use for hopefully years to come.”

Burnett says staff will appreciate having a ticket booth back in place at the St Hill Street entrance because it provides shelter while they work.

The former ticket booth was removed two years ago because of vandalism. The new booth will be a semi-fixed structure and more robust.

“It was great to be able to provide a learning opportunity while reinstating this structure,” Burdett says.

“The new ticket booth is the result of a fantastic collaboration – we wanted something that was very functional and fits in with the existing building and the landscape so we’re really happy with the result.”