New South Wales Projects & Sites
Rouse Hill Town Centre
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Landscape Architect: OCULUS landscape architecture, urban design Pty Ltd,
Location: Rouse Hill, Sydney NSW
Summary
The GPT Group (GPT) has spent $470 million creating the vibrant Rouse Hill Town Centre which is managed and owned by GPT. Rouse Hill Town Centre will sit at the heart of the 120 hectare New Rouse Hill site which includes $1 billion of residential and commercial development undertaken by the Lend Lease/GPT over a period of 12 years on land earmarked for development by the Department of Planning.
Rouse Hill Town Centre was developed within the context of a masterplan designed by Civitas Urban Design and Planning and prepared by a joint venture between Lend Lease and GPT (The New Rouse Hill) in partnership with the Department of Planning and Landcom. Rouse Hill Town Centre provides a significant retail, leisure and commercial offer complemented by the Baulkham Hills Shire Council library and community facilities which, with the recently launched residential components, complete The New Rouse Hill.
OCULUS provided input into the masterplanning process, and developed the Landscape Masterplan within the broader framework established by Civitas. The master plan established the basic structure of Rouse Hill Town Centre with two main streets intersecting in the centre at the ‘Town Square’ and dividing the development into four quadrants each anchored by a major retailer. A continuous circuit of pedestrian laneways (the ‘Pedestrian Loop’), running through the heart of each quadrant and connecting back to the main streets, provides the primary pedestrian circulation route and links a variety of spaces along its length. The master plan also strongly established the principles of connectivity and permeability, whereby the ‘place’ of Rouse Hill Town Centre was firmly embedded into the wider regional centre by means of a series of visual and physical links to key landscape elements such as Caddies Creek, Mungerie House heritage precinct, and future parks and streets.
This master plan was further developed by the GPT Group with OCULUS and the architectural team (Allen Jack & Cottier, Rice Daubney, Group GSA), to create a richer, more sequential experience. Detailed climatic modelling was used to inform a range of sophisticated environmental systems, particularly in terms of providing a wide variety and types of cover for the external spaces, thereby mitigating the extremes of weather and making the environment of Rouse Hill Town Centre pleasant all year-round. A unique approach to ‘place-making’ was adopted for the design of Rouse Hill Town Centre, in which OCULUS played a key role. This involved a highly collaborative and interactive process whereby for each particular space, the qualities of similar successful spaces were analysed, the “layers” that contributed towards creating a rich urban environment were identified, and designs were then developed, reviewed and tested.
OCULUS designed the well-connected, permeable and diverse public realm including the two internal streets (Main St and Civic Way), the ‘Pedestrian Loop’, and a wide variety of public spaces including the ‘Town Square’ (main civic space in the heart of town), the quadrant courts (forecourt spaces to the majors), the ‘Backyard’ (children’s play space), Market Square (multi-purpose event space), the ‘Secret Garden’ (roof garden) and the ‘Belvedere’ (outlook and rain garden). One of principal aims behind the design of the public realm has been to create a range of spaces to cater for needs of the community in all the activities of their daily lives. Each space was designed to address its own unique requirements whilst still forming part of a legible whole.
The development of Rouse Hill Town Centre was underpinned by a diverse range of environmental initiatives. The design was required to meet a series of specific ESD targets that had been defined for such areas as biodiversity, energy, water, materials and waste. This involved OCULUS in working across a wide range of issues, areas and scales, for example species and materials selection, waste management, and WSUD.
introduction / overview / images / location / Projects
2010
