The New Zealand Liberation Museum - Te Arawhata
Le Quesnoy, France
Collaborators | Tim Walker Associates, Karl Johnstone of Haumi. |
Role | Visitor experience planning, museum fit out design brief, advisory services to the Trust. |
Year | 2020-2021 |
Client | New Zealand War Memorial Museum Trust |
Location | Le Quesnoy, France |
Freedom and friendship
The location of the NZ Liberation Museum on the Western Front in France is the setting of a historic battle that took place at the end of the First World War. It was there that NZ troops liberated a town under German occupation without loss of civilian life, famously winning the hearts and minds of the townspeople and forging a lasting bond that endures today.
Planning for success
The New Zealand War Memorial Museum Trust approached Stitchbird during planning stages. They needed a direction that would gain buy in from stakeholders and funders, and be attractive as a contemporary visitor proposition. Stitchbird, together with Tim Walker Associates and Karl Johnstone of Haumi, wrote the design brief for the visitor experience and fit out design. The scope was confined to developing the experience within an existing historic property held by the Trust.
A living memorial
The conceptual direction focused on creating a living memorial elevating the themes of freedom, friendship and the future. Te Arawhata became a key symbolic element through the project; referencing the ladder used by soldiers to scale the rampart walls and liberate the town, and a ‘pathway to higher things’, which enables learnings from the past to be used to reflect on the price and value of freedom, and the importance of friendship to support a better future. Wētā Workshop was engaged by the Trust as creative partners to deliver the museum fit out design.
