A healing-inspired garden at Auckland’s North Shore hospital has won an award at the international Annual Biophilic Awards.

Based in the new North Shore Hospital building, Tōtara Haumaru is a 110-metre garden filled with over 500 plants, most of which have benefits for patient care and wellbeing.

In collaboration with biophilic design studio Outside In and the globally recognised and Kiwi architecture practice, Jasmax, the garden was able nab the diamond award – an award given to the top overall project.

This is Outside In and Jasmax’s second win at the Annual Biophilic Awards – the first being for its work at one of New Zealand’s largest litigation firm, MC.

“The Healing Garden is our most ambitious and impactful project in our 10 years of operation. We’re immensely proud of the recognition, which shows that the calibre of our team and our work is truly world-class,” says Ryan McQuerry, Co-Founder and Creative Director of Outside In.

Tōtara Haumaru (The sheltering totara) is the name given by Dame Rangimārie Naida Glavish (Ngāti Whātua), and honours a tōtara tree that stood on the site of the new hospital. 

The judges of the awards says that the project won because it was able to capture the essence of connections to nature and how they are prioritised within a building to benefit the well-being of people using the space. 

Read more: Biophilic design: The architecture style putting nature first

With over 500 plants from 15 species, including plants that are native, the garden is set to give people an immersive experience into a New Zealand forest.

For this project, both companies wanted to harness the proven benefits of nature to enhance patient well-being and recovery outcomes based on international research.

Meant to reflect the forest canopy of Aotearoa indoors, providing beautiful views of nature from all four storeys of the new hospital, patients, their whānau and hospital staff have a truly inspiring place which they can enjoy and relax in anytime they wish.

“With their specialist expertise in selecting the right plants to thrive in internal environments, and technical expertise in delivering the design concept to perfection, Outside In have brought the vision for this garden to life,” says Jun Tsujimoto, Head of Design at Jasmax.

“The Healing Garden is now the calm and harmonious environment we all hoped for and will support both physical and mental well-being of patients, staff and visitors to Tōtara Haumaru.”