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Comments
Some of
the last surviving in Melbourne, these old botanic gardens are listed with
Heritage Victoria and included on the Historic Overlay of the Port Phillip
Planning Scheme.
Building
upon an existing Conservation Management Plan, this project involved
preparation of a framework for future development of the site, which will
add another layer of significance to the existing layers of heritage
embodied in the old gardens.
The
specific project was to prepare a plan for the garden’s northwest corner,
incorporating into the fabric of the Gardens contemporary social needs,
through a new Eco-House, in a way that would not detract from its
conservation values.
After
researching other examples of similar developments overseas, the designers
determined to integrate the old and new areas through layout, scale and
aesthetic character, and to merge the formal character of the Gardens with
the domestic scale of the Eco-House development.
Through
the introduction of a new formal path system based on the Garden’s existing
paths, a sympathetic scale and pattern has been defined in the new area,
while still allowing the content of the beds to respond to the evolutionary
nature of the Gardens, and to changing horticultural and social trends.
Detail of the new part includes collections of new plants, display beds,
interpretive sustainable garden plots and community gardens.
Treating
the Gardens as a place with many layers of heritage has allowed the
development of a plan that is detailed to simultaneously display the ideas
of our own time and to fit comfortably into the historic site context.
The
theoretical background was carefully researched, and the practical on-ground
work well-designed and interesting.
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