BRISBANE , New Members and Fellows – Andrea Ryan

Registered Members & Fellows celebration dinner:

Congratulations to the following new Registered Landscape Architects; Sam Shepherd, Carmel O'Neil, Natalie Houghton, Michael O'Brien, Kate Songhurst and Alison Cauchois. Once again we welcomed the new Registered Members and the new Fellow Ross Gamble with a celebration dinner, this year changing the venue to the Fox Hotel. The night proved to be a great success with the Registered Members given the opportunity to ask the difficult questions to Mandy as National President, Fellows,  AILA QLD Executive, and the interview panel. Many stories were shared from where the best place in the world is to work to how people became National Presidents. Thanks goes to my fellow panel members for their assistance on the panel, Andrew Green and Peter Baker, and to Gamble McKinnon Green for the use of their office. Thanks also goes to Michael Ryan who conducted the workshop to prepare the candidates for the interviews and to AECOM for the use of their office.

 

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New Fellow Announced

 

The AILA National Council has awarded an AILA Fellowship to Ross Gamble in recognition of his distinguished service in the profession and his significant and consistent contribution to landscape architectural practice, to the training of generations of landscape architectural professionals, and to the development of landscape architecture in Australia. The award recognises Ross's commitment to the national environment and the Australian landscape and that he has actively encouraged an environmentally sensitive approach to the design process. As a founding Director of Gamble McKinnon Green, Ross has combined his background in Landscape Architecture and vast horticultural knowledge to provide a specialist ability in the development of creative and sustainable solutions in the urban environment. Congratulations to Ross!

 

 

 

BRISBANE , Recreation, Leisure and Play Event - Katharina Nieberler-Walker

 

 

The AILA QLD June event ‘Recreation Leisure Play’ was well attended and presentations were well received.  Presentations provided a good insight into some new and exciting works going on around Brisbane. Brisbane’s latest park development by the State Government and two creative initiatives from Brisbane City Council were presented. Julian Jacobs introduced Kangaroo Point Park, Brisbane’s newest park which was opened by Queensland Premier Anna Bligh in January this year. Public open space is a strong contender for highly contested urban sites (it was a TAFE college campus– now a public park). Kangaroo Point Park enjoys widespread community support which was evident from the well received presentation. Paul Songhurst’s presentation on Council’s subARTS Strategy – suburban substations as gritty places for artists and designers- provided a valuable perspective on how the role of a landscape architect continues to diversify and how exciting ideas can powerfully contribute to recreation, leisure and play opportunity in the city. Tanya Neville talked about Council’s ‘Inhabit’ program which is designed to activate small, undiscovered places in the CBD through the programming of arts and events. It was evident from the presentation how the ‘Inhabit’ program can offer a creative drawcard attracting CBD regulars and visitors alike. Ben Urban from Urban Play (sponsor) finished the session with some facts about the value of play and the importance of exciting play environments. Many questions from the audience and a lively discussion concluded the event. The strong interest in the event makes it worthwhile considering future “explore” events for these projects.

 

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AILA  GOLD – Gerard McCormick  

June Surf

The June Surf was held in brisk conditions at Currumbin Alley with a 2ft swell and south west winds.  A diehard crew of three including Gerard McCormick from Cardno SPLAT, Wayne Brilley from Q-Build and Chris Walton from the Currumbin Ecovillage were in for the early.  The inside bank at Laceys delivered some nice clean walls for the long board and the occasional shoulder high set running for 100m up the beach.

There is a nasty rumour floating round that all AILA Gold do is surf.  I would like to confirm that this has certainly been the case for the first half of 2010 due to work and renovation commitments.  It has also been hard to compete with the barrage of excellent events organised by AILA QLD Group and GCCC so we have decided if you can’t beat them join them.  AILA Gold is offering a car pooling service with a 7 seater VW van travelling to all AILA QLD events from the Gold Coast.  If you want to hitch a ride call 0407 651 096 and get on the “Weed Bus”.

Stay tuned for a regroup for 2010.  Any event ideas, sponsors or support welcome from members, non-members, students and supporters.

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AILA  FNQ – Steve Falvey

Tree pit/cells site visit

The latest FNQ AILA event was held on the 12th August, 2010 and entailed walking 4.5km around the CBD to view various street tree installations, both existing and new, and discuss their advantages and disadvantages.

A group of 16, comprising of Landscape Architects, Townsville City Council Parks Managers and employees, Contractors, Designers and Drafters set off from Dean Street Car park at 2pm.  First stop was to some street trees planted in the central car parking median on Stanley Street.  About 5yrs ago, TCC substituted the asphalt for a structural soil covered with permeable interlocking concrete paving.  Each tree pit was the equivalent of 3 car parking bays, two of which were retained as parking. The middle car park was allocated for the street tree and associated gardens. The interlocking pavers allowed greater water and air exchange for the tree roots.  The trees have generally thrived however the paving has been affected slightly from subsidence and the possibility of root damage.

 

Second stop was to the first installation of the Arborgreen root cell product in Townsville some 2years ago. Despite no permanent irrigation, the trees are performing very well and appear to have taken well to the root cell.  A gravel mulch, set in an epoxy resin to hold it together that allows water infiltration, has been used with limited success due to a break down in the epoxy.

Third stop was to a car park adjacent a new residential apartment complex.  In this area, 4 different types of tree pit installations were identified;  root cell, structural soil, 1m3 hole (reduced due to infrastructure and services) and a 4m3 hole filled with standard organic soil mixes.  This project is relatively new (18mths), however initial observations would suggest that the trees planted in the larger growing holes have definitely been more successful.  This site has been identified as one that can be used as a great comparison over the coming years.

An extended walk was next on the agenda to another street tree in a central median.  Here the car park was fully concreted except for a central grated section with irrigation.  The car park was initially excavated and replaced with an organic soil mix prior to the concrete bridging surface been installed.  The neighboring trees would suggest that this is a successful option, albeit an expensive one.

The last stop was the Flinders Street Mall.  Currently the Mall is undergoing a massive redevelopment to convert it back to a roadway.   With increased pedestrian pavement widths of 9m and the majority been hard paving areas it was crucial that the proposed street trees were given every opportunity to grow into large specimens.  The designers have specified the 2nd generation Arborgreen Tree Cell product for this project.  Recently a large number of these cells have been installed in the first stage of the development.

With some minor installation changes to suit the many existing and proposed services in this corridor the result is an extensive underground matrix for the successful growth of the proposed street trees.  Some progress photos are below.

Thanks once again to Andy Froggatt (Townsville City Council) and Renee Jezard (RPS) for their help with the organization of this event.  A special thanks to the Arborgreen representatives who attended the event with product information and were on standby to answer any related questions.   

 

 

 

AILA BRISBANE – Lauren Walsh

AILA QLD has been working in close collaboration with QUT over the past few months, discussing methods for implementing approaches that are aimed at improving the relationship between QUT students, recent graduates and the Australian Institute of Landscape Architects (AILA).

 

AILA QLD QUT ‘O Week’ Offers

One successful approach was to provide the students at QUT with an ‘O week’ special that encouraged them to connect with AILA earlier in their career and to take advantage of the benefits that AILA can offer. The ‘O Week’ special offered Membership Discounts, whereby AILA Qld would subsidise Student Memberships for one year, if students sign up to AILA QLD before July 1st 2010. The students had two (2) discounted membership offers to choose from;

Student Member Level 1:

QUT Students First Year of Membership only $22 (normally $33)
All student membership benefits, but no hard copy publications or mail-outs.

Student Member Level 2:

QUT Students first year of Membership only $66 (normally $110)

The same as level 1 plus publications, including the Landscape Architecture Australia magazine and Landmark Newsletter.

On top of the Student Membership Discount rate, AILA QLD offered ‘ALL’ AILA Student Members a discounted rate to AILA QLD Events. This promotion was aimed at encouraging the student Landscape Architects to engage with AILA through events and network with industry professionals.

 

The highlight for the AILA QLD ‘O Week’ special, was the three (3) Giveaway prizes. Each giveaway prize included One (1) free pass to ‘ALL’ AILA QLD events for the 2010 / 2011 Financial Year (excluding New Members and Fellows Dinner, AILA QLD Awards Night, AILA Conference & AILA Christmas Party).

The winners were drawn at random on the 27th July 2010. Congratulations to

Mr. Glyn Chisholm, Miss Tamiko Warick – Richards  and  Miss Jessica Mew, who were the 2010-2011 AILA QLD ‘O week’ competition winners. We look forward to seeing them at future AILA QLD events.

 

AILA QLD QUT Karl Langer Award

The QLD AILA FRESH members met with the QUT 4th Year students and lecturers earlier this year to discuss the importance and history of the AILA Karl Langer Award.

We believe that it is the collaboration between the students and the profession that carries on the legacy of Karl Langer and this is why it’s important that QUT and AILA work together to make sure we get the best possible results. Close communications between QUT and AILA are underway, and we will have more updates to this event as the year proceeds.

 

AILA QLD QUT June QUT event

AILA QLD was happy to show support for our growing profession, when Julian Raxworthy of QUT engaged us to sponsor the QUT Landscape Architecture End of Semester Programme. AILA QLD, QUT staff and students, invited family, friends and industry professionals to the QUT End of Semester Exhibition.

The exhibition included works from all year levels & illustrated the hard work these students invest into each and every project. Following the student exhibition, a public lecture by Kirsten Bauer (Aspect Studios) presented a range of practice research and projects, including discussions of the proposed Desalination Plant in Melbourne.  Undertaken with ARM, this project will have the biggest green roof in the Southern hemisphere.

The night was well received and we look forward to continuing the support to QUT events.

 

AILA QLD 2011 Awards Night!

As previously mentioned the 2011 AILA QLD awards will be held at Hillstone St Lucia, on Friday 27 May 2011.

The QLD Project Awards Night provides an opportunity for friends and members of the Landscape Architecture profession, to come together and celebrate excellence in their field over the past two years.

I am excited to see what the 2011 AILA QLD Project Awards will bring, and I encourage all members of our profession, from students right through to Senior Landscape Architects, to strive for excellence in all their projects, so that 2011 can set yet another benchmark for outstanding achievement in Landscape Architecture.

Sponsor Article

 

 

Plant Up - Jonathon Grealy

Plant Up is a specialist in architectural landscaping which provides design, Installation and maintenance service of Greenwalls and Greenroofs.

                      

Plantup has constructed Queensland’s tallest Greenwall located at Eureka Landscapes office in Kedron. The Greenwall was designed by Mark Paul from The Greenwall Company and Jonathon Grealy from PlantUp. The design had to incorporate plants for both full sun and full shade positions.

A large biodiversity has been created on the Greenwall by incorporating both Australian natives and some exotic species. There are over 60 varieties of plants with a mixture of Bromeliads, Cacti and Ferns. PlantUp’s Jonathon Grealy stipulates that plant selection is imperative to creating a truly sustainable Greenwall. It is essential when designing a Greenwall that the horticultural aspects are the main priority thus ensuring that a wall can be built to last! The plants were grown and supplied by Bruce Dunstan and the team at Greenstock Nurseries.

Plant Up is focused on delivering sustainable landscape installations that challenge preconceived design parameters.  In additions to the environmental benefits of our Greenwall installations, it’s fun to put plants up a wall! We can help your landscape project get “off the ground”, from concept plans through to installation.

 

                                

 

 

 

Contact us on 07 3350 8333 or jgrealy@plantup.net.au or view us online www.plantup.net.au

 

 

Sponsor Article

URBAN PLAY – Nikita Burns

 

New to Urban Play

Urban Play is excited to present 3 new ranges, Moments 1-4years, Corocord 8000 series and ICON.

Young people today are inspired by the gaming world and the digital universe, technology has become a part of day to day life.

By combining the excitement from sport and the game world with young people’s need for social interaction, ICON takes computer games to the outdoors and encourages physical activity.

33% of 8 -14 year olds not meeting the minimum physical activity standards and there are few outdoor places for young people.

ICON is an interactive activity zone for young people where speed, action and gaming are key words.

click to view youtube ICON

 

The Moments Toddler range has been designed and scaled specifically for toddler’s ages 1-4 years. Addressing issues of scale is an essential part of designing play equipment and play spaces, failing to address scale may result in equipment that is intimidating instead of thrilling and challenging. Backed by Kompan’s industry leading 20year warranty, Moments toddler range enriches children’s development through innovative play activities.

Introducing the 8000 series Corocord Domes, taking net climbing to the next level and pushing the boundaries with innovative design.

The Corocord arches and domes deliver 360 degree climbing opportunities, challenging balancing acts and high altitude adventures.

Models from the 8000 series offer a large play space with a small footprint and can be installed in just one day.

click here to watch  KOMPAN Corocord - The Dome Concept

For more information on our new ranges or for a brochure please contact Nikita.
07) 3844 1877

info@urbanplay.com.au

www.urbanplay.com.au