WildLab

WildLab is a group of designers and researchers committed to growing a world where people and nature thrive together.

We collaborate with community groups, iwi, farmers, business, and government agencies. Together, we create regenerative landscapes, strategies, experiences, and communication tools that connect them and their partners with te taiao and nature.

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Te Araroa Map Series and Toolkit

Be among the first to explore Te Araroa in a whole new way. This new six-map series brings the whole trail together, beautifully designed for walkers, section-planners, and everyone who’s part of the Te Araroa journey.

$58.00

Love Our Huts T-Shirt Fundraiser

Wear your support for FMC's Love Our Huts campaign with these awesome T-shirts! $20 from each purchase goes to supporting the great work Federated Mountain Clubs do.

$48.00

Southern Faces - An Introduction to Rock Climbing in Ōtepoti Dunedin

Southern Faces is a comprehensive climbing guidebook for Ōtepoti Dunedin, created to fill a 25-year gap in local climbing information. Designed and edited by WildLab's very own Riley Smith, the project brought together climbers, designers, mana whenua and scientists to produce an accurate and visually engaging resource. It combines detailed route descriptions, maps and access notes with essays and photography that highlight the region’s geology, ecology and climbing culture.

$48.00

Southern Faces Tees - Pinnacle

Tees feature Dave Brash’s original topos from his 2000 classic Dunedin Rock - cheers Dave! These shirts are a tribute to the cliffs, climbs and community that continue to shape the climbing story of Ōtepoti. There are three awesome designs to choose from!

$48.00

Our Projects

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Te Whenua Hou: a distributed forest

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A sweeping, distributed native forest of 1.2 million plants springs to life across 20 farms, weaving biodiversity through farmland. Designed with fractal, braided‑river patterns, it creates a 350‑hectare ecological “bird bridge,” connecting the Southern Alps with Banks Peninsula.

Greenhill Lodge Masterplan

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The Greenhill Lodge masterplan creates a welcoming retreat where gardens, pathways and views flow together with the surrounding landscape. It brings together planting, architecture and outdoor spaces to offer guests a richer connection with nature while enhancing the lodge’s character and sense of place.

Oparara Basin Experience Design

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Using a ‘Lost World’ narrative, this design transforms Oparara Basin into a top-tier West Coast experience. Visitors encounter moa silhouettes at the entry, then use augmented-reality storytelling to connect past extinctions with present-day conservation efforts—spurring engagement with native species like whio and kiwi.

Whitehaven Vineyard Landscape Restoration

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The Springs is a long-term landscape vision for Whitehaven Wines - restoring native ecosystems alongside a working vineyard in the Wairau Valley. This project weaves together ecological design, viticultural insight, and community storytelling to show how wine and wild nature can thrive side by side.

Field Notes

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Social Natures

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How do landscapes and people shape each other? From stone walls built after forests were cleared, to regenerating bush reclaiming old farmland, it reveals how places are formed through work, memory, and material. Rather than viewing nature and architecture as separate, it shows them as deeply entwined—built from shared histories, changing relationships, and ongoing conversations.

Being Landscape

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This article reimagines landscape not as a static scene to be observed or preserved, but as an active, lived relationship between people and place. Drawing on personal experiences, design research, and fieldwork,a case for more participatory approaches to conservation is made—ones that foster mutual shaping between people and landscape, and enable deeper belonging through embodied practice.

WildLab Field Guide to Designing Great Storytelling Panels

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For over a decade we’ve been designing storytelling panels that connect people with nature. This guide shares the principles behind our work—how good design and strong stories can inspire, build connection, and help communities bring the values of Te Taiao to life.

Behind the Image

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This column, some years back for Wilderness Magazine, takes a look at our love of pristine wilderness photos—those calendar shots with no people, no huts, no mess. But behind every image is someone swatting sandflies, hauling gear, and eating tuna from a foil pouch. Maybe it’s time we showed that too

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Our Projects

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