AILA Victoria Awards 2008
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  2003 AILA Victoria & Tasmania
Awards in Landscape Architecture

Flemings Nurseries
Major Partner
                      
planning awards
Award for Planning Excellence


BIRRARUNG MARR CONCEPT PLAN
MELBOURNE, VICTORIA

Landscape Architect:
 City of Melbourne
 

Client:
 City of Melbourne

  
Jury Comments

Birrarung Marr is the boldest and most contemporary contribution to Melbourne's public landscape and environment of our time. Beneath its simplicity lies a layered appraisal of community, culture and nature; woven together with particular power. It represents a great leap forward in landscape architectural planning and design.
 

Image Gallery
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The design of Birrarung Marr expresses the riverine geomorphology of the area and the railways which once dominated the site, and is framed around sight-lines to surrounding landmark buildings so as to reinforce its identity as an urban space rather than a retreat from the city. [City of Melbourne]     Model showing the concept design for the park, including tree canopies on the terraces and the footbridge linking the new park to open spaces south of the river. [City of Melbourne]     The park serves a mixture of roles, acting as a complement to the parks around the CBD that cater for high levels of everyday passive recreation; as a part of the Yarra River events and entertainment precinct; and as a link between the city and nearby venues as well as the ‘missing link’ in the system of parks around the eastern side of the CBD. [City of Melbourne]

     Remnant channels from a meandering river, which were characteristic of the Yarra before its reconstruction near the end of the 19th century, are abstracted in the design. [R Jones]     A popular postcard view of the Jolimont rail yards c1939 – the future sites of Federation Square and Birrarung Marr. [State Library of Victoria]     Aerial view of the park showing its context with the river and CBD. [John Gollings]     Aerial view of the park illustrating how the terracing provides a series of distinct but visually connected spaces for events. The promenade along the river edge incorporates elms from the former alignment of Batman Avenue. [John Gollings]     Circus Oz in Birrarung Marr, 2003. [John Gollings]     A temporary art installation, under preparation in 2002. [R Jones]   

 Cyclists along the Yarra in Birrarung Marr. [R Jones]     The riverside promenade provides a thoroughfare and a setting for social activities. [R Jones]     The pedestrian bridge provides a legible circulation spine oriented towards major city buildings, and spans two of the major swales to link the upper and middle terrace to Speakers Corner. [John Gollings]

Photographs: John Golling, Ron Jones, State Library of Victoria

                                                           

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