Queensland Sites
Cairns Esplanade Skatepark
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Landscape Architect: Convic Design P/L
Location: Cairns Esplanade Skatepark, Northern Esplanade Cairns, QLD
OVERVIEW
Client: Cairns City Council
Contractors: Convic Skateparks P/LBudget: $1.2 million
The Cairns City Council engaged Convic Design Pty Ltd (here on noted as Convic) to design Australia’s largest and most innovative skate & BMX facility that would cater for local users whilst also attract world class competition and be a significant tourist attraction and iconic facility in this high profile parkland space. Convic embraced this exciting open brief and developed a unique integrated sports facility and urban recreation plaza that sat comfortablywithin the highly significant Cairns Foreshore Esplanade parklands context.
Critically, Convic broke with traditional skatepark design convention to create a space that notonly provided specific defined sporting areas but importantly also became a broaderintegrated urban landscape. As such the boundaries between facility and parkland blurso that the space becomes part of the foreshore environment, rather than a monolithic intrusion, as seen with so many skatepark developments.
Since completion the Cairns Esplanade Skatepark as received several awards:
AILA Victoria President's Award for Playground Design 2007.
Queensland State Winner of the national CCAA Public Domain Awards 2007.
Paths Commendation Award national CCAA Public Domain Awards 2007.
As a non-traditional area of the landscape architecture, Convic Design is an international award winning design practice that contains a diverse mix of athletes and professionally qualified designers who work collaboratively on the likeminded goal of developing the most innovative, integrated design solutions for clients around the world. Convic Design would like to raise the Cairns Esplanade Skatepark as a example of New Directions In landscape Practice.
The Cairns Esplanade Skatepark is unique as it embraces the need to provide exciting innovative sporting infrastructure but also appreciates the importance of site and context. Firstly to be in such a high profile location creates a challenge to ensure that this sporting space compliments rather than detracts from the surrounding parkland context. To achieve this, Convic consciously focused on landscape integration as the driving force of the design.
The space is essentially a series of interconnecting skateable paths that form a matrix, linking beach to car park, parkland to beach volleyball space. The adjacent boardwalk has then been used to generate internal skate runs, further connecting the space with the broader context. The resultant spaces created by the path system are then a mix of either defined active ‘bowl’ terrain or lawn refuge areas. As such the facility has both clearly defined articulated access (skate paths) throughout that knits to the boardwalk, parkland and car parking whilst also has clearly designated nodes of high contained activity (Bowl areas). Bowl skating is an activity undertaken in a contained space whilst street skating is about the journey. Convic has created a facility that embraces both and in doing so also improves safety with the separation of these different uses.
The lawn refuge areas are also unique to Cairns. With the crisscrossing paths providing a multitude of skating opportunities, the ‘left over’ lawn spaces create simple seating and viewing areas adjacent to the activity. They have also been designed to catch run off from the park to mitigate the need for significant irrigation. Trees planted within these lawn wedges also create shade for both participants and those watching the activity.
Design excellence and functional quality
Largest skatepark in Australia in a high profile location. Site design approach where the connecting paths and integrated landscape actually form the design of the facility itself. Unique in skate facility provision to date, where traditionally the facility is designed and then landscape manipulated to contain the facility.
Convic has also been able to actually create a real urban plaza. By using the connecting paths we have blurred the lines between facility and broader landscape. We have isolated the most popular components of skateboarding and then connected them into a single facility without necessarily creating a contrived space. The plaza whilst being designed to maximise street skating, is also clearly defined access across the site.
Bold simple path system that not only creates delineated entrances and a multitude of street skating opportunities throughout the space but also defines both the landscaped viewing areas and creates defendable articulated areas specifically for the bowls. In doing this we ensure these areas maximize safety and viewing opportunities.
More than any other single components, Convic have been able to integrate a sporting facility into a broader parkland environment without hindering function. In fact, by taking this landscape approach, Convic have actually maximised skate/BMX/inline sporting opportunities. This park was recently awarded one the ‘Seven Skate Wonders of the World’ by Skate Park Guide 2006. Convic has been able to redefine skatepark provision, create a visually dynamic sporting space that compliments the broader parkland context in which it is placed and still ensure it is the most functional and popular skatepark in Australia.
Response to brief.
The Cairns Skatepark comfortably sits as one of the major recreation features of the recently redeveloped Esplanade Parklands. It complements other major facilities including the adjacent beach volleyball courts, Muddy’s playground, Cairns swimming Lagoon and embraces the broader parkland environment in which it is placed. It meets council’s requirements for both a local level sporting space and tourist attraction – within the skate industry it is already considered Australia’s best skatepark and has attracted interest worldwide.
Sensitivity to social, cultural, historical, physical and natural context.
The skatepark is part of the parkland reserve, not an intrusion to it. We embraced the need for the skatepark to add to the visual quality of this foreshore reserve. The Cairns Esplanade Skatepark is all ages’ public sporting facility of its type, but an important national and international community resource challenging the perception of what skateparks are and how they can integrate into the public domain
Quality of implementation of built work.
What makes the Cairns Skatepark work as a sporting space is the final implementation of the built work. Whilst the design is innovative and unique, it is the precise concrete finishing within the bowls what gives Cairns such a high reputation within the skateboarding/BMX community.
ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSIBILITY AND SUSTAINABILITY
Convic adopted WSUD principals in surface water disbursement with all plaza surfaces graded to expel any rainwater onto lawn area or garden beds, negating the need for any irrigation requirements, additional to this significant existing Vegetation was retained providing refuge from the elements.
Supporting the local ecosystem.
Adjoining the skatepark site is an internationally recognised migratory wader bird habitat and in close proximity to a declared fish habitat area, the foreshore of the northern esplanade overlays soft marine clays requiring the area to be preloaded before excavation works could take place. A major influential factor in setting the levels of the skatepark bowls and in turn the whole facility was to avoid any disturbance of the underlying acid sulphate soil. Adhering to Councils philosophy of no net environmental impact – any detrimental impact is compensated by an equal or greater beneficial impact.
RELEVANCE TO THE PROFESSION OF LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE, THE PUBLIC AND THE
EDUCATION OF FUTURE PRACTITIONERS:
Convic has embraced the need to redefine skateparks, teenage focused public infrastructure and associated sporting activity spaces. We are challenging clients to look at more integrated approaches with a site wide consideration of not only the sporting facility but the associated context in which they are placed. Cairns shows that a ‘skatepark’ can become a visually dynamic, major piece of urban infrastructure in a very high profile location and actually compliment the parkland precinct rather than detract from it. This skatepark can also become a landscape solution itself where edges and function are blurred so the broader community can start to embrace this sport and accept it as a legitimate recreation activity and integral part of the public landscape.
Demonstrates the fusion of practice and theory
At 2315 square meters the Cairns Esplanade Skatepark is Australia’s largest and most innovative skatepark to date. Prior to opening the facility had the mantle as one of the seven wonders of the skatepark world (global publication) due to its innovative design and contextual aesthetic. Since opening it has appeared in numerous skateboarding and BMX
magazines and websites. It is seen as a benchmark project for active non-structured recreational facilities and their integration into the wider public landscape.
introduction / overview / images / location / /Projects
2008
