The AILA Landscape Architecture Awards program provides a key vehicle for the promotion of the achievements and work of landscape architects in Australia. The Awards process is an opportunity for public and peer recognition of landscape architect’s work, and demonstrates to industry, business, government and the wider community the positive impact the profession has on Australian lives through the planning and design of the built and natural environments.

In 2020. QLD, WA, SA, NSW, VIC & ACT will be presenting an Awards program, with the winners at Chapter level proceeding to the National Awards. The National Landscape Architecture Awards event was held on Thursday 15 October as part of the 2020 Festival of Landscape Architecture in Perth.

View the online gallery of the 2019 National Award winners and entrants including winner citations.
View 2018 National Winners here.

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Entries for the International Category, can be made direct through Awards portal. All other national entries need to be entered at a state chapter level and win locally before progressing to the National Awards.

Key Dates

Awards Entries
Entries Open: Tuesday 18 February 2020
Entries Close: Tuesday 31 March 2020

Awards Events
Chapter Awards Night: View the relevant Chapter Award pages for more detail on chapter events.
National Awards Night: Thursday 15 October 2020

Awards Categories

HEALTH and EDUCATION LANDSCAPE

Projects in this category are constructed landscape projects in and surrounding institutional spaces including educational, health or aged care facilities. Projects in this category demonstrate how the design contributes to the usability and operation of the facility and the wellbeing of the user.

NEW CATEGORY!

1

CIVIC LANDSCAPE

Projects in this category are constructed urban landscape projects that are public in nature and capture and contribute to the culture and amenity of the urban environment.

2

PARKS and OPEN SPACE

Projects in this category are constructed public parks and open space, or strategic open space projects that balance the demand for recreation, culture and the environment.

3

PLAY SPACES

Projects in this category are constructed play spaces or strategies which promote the notion of active play and embraces the temporal elements of the active play space.

4

INFRASTRUCTURE

Projects in this category are constructed landscape infrastructure projects, landscape strategies or works associated with civil infrastructure that demonstrates the successful integration of landscape values and which contribute to a future sustainability.

5

CULTURAL HERITAGE

Projects in this category are constructed projects or strategies that demonstrate the restoration, conservation, enhancement, maintenance, or adaptive reuse of culturally significant sites.

6

LAND MANAGEMENT

Projects in this category are constructed projects or strategies for the restoration, conservation or management of significant landscapes that demonstrate a tangible physical outcome. The project may recognise and reconcile the natural and cultural values of communities and the landscape in which they are placed.

7

TOURISM

Projects in this category are constructed or strategic projects that demonstrate excellence in landscape design and demonstrate a tangible contribution to tourism, either nationally or in the local region that significantly enhances the profile of the area.

8

URBAN DESIGN

Projects in this category are constructed or strategic projects that demonstrate how the design, construction management and built outcome contributes to the wellbeing of the urban setting through the improvement of social interaction, economic activity, liveability, accessibility and safety.

9

LANDSCAPE PLANNING

Projects in this category are constructed or strategic projects and include strategic design and guiding policy documents and visual assessments for urban development, residential and planned communities, local community and rural or regional planning.

10

RESEARCH, POLICY AND COMMUNICATIONS

Projects in this category include published works in research and or practice that extend the knowledge base and advocacy of landscape architecture.

11

COMMUNITY CONTRIBUTION

Projects in this category included constructed projects or strategies delivered either: As a pro bono service (or significantly reduced fee) to the community OR have positively impacted a disadvantaged individual or group of users who wouldn’t normally have access to design expertise.
Entrants should be able to clearly demonstrate the benefit provided by the project to the communities, cultural groups and/or neighbourhoods in which they are located in or serve (e.g. through client letters of support explicitly referring to benefits gained). Projects will demonstrate sound principles or values of landscape architecture, and must be sufficiently focused around the role of the landscape architect as opposed to contributing to a wider community development.

12

SMALL PROJECTS

Projects in this category include those considered to be 'small' in terms of size or budget. Projects are recognised that have been constrained by size or budget restrictions, but have achieved a level of invention and creativity beyond these constraints.

13

GARDENS

Projects in this category include constructed private and public gardens that contribute to the role and understanding of the garden in contemporary society and culture.

14

INTERNATIONAL

Projects in this category include constructed or strategic projects that demonstrate a contribution to landscape architecture internationally.
Please note the International Awards are part of the National Awards program and are not judged at the state level. Enter the International Awards here.

15

National Jury

Shaun Walsh FAILA - National President

Shaun has a professional background in Town Planning, Environmental Management and Landscape Architecture with various roles in local, state and federal government and well as a design manager in a private practice. He studied Landscape Architecture as a post graduate at a later age and has established his landscape architecture career at a management level. He is the Chief Executive Officer of City Parklands P/L in Brisbane which is a commercial entity that manages South Bank and Roma Street Parklands and its 12 million visitors a year on behalf of the Brisbane City Council and the Queensland Government. Shaun is also a Director of Oxley Creek Transformation P/L which is overseeing $100 million open space renewal of the Oxley Creek Corridor on behalf of Brisbane City Council. On a personal level Shaun is a keen gardener, having established a large estate garden in the Sunshine Coast hinterland over 16 years, with previous smaller gardens being open to the public. He is also a committed volunteer of Landcare and organiser of “Great Noosa Trail Walk” which raises profile of the local landscape and fundraises for local community groups.

Barbara Gdowski

Barbara has been working for 30 years within the built form and land development industries as an executive manager, design practitioner, senior development manager, and client representative for both the public and private sector. A qualified architect, Barbara is currently the Manager of the State Design Review Panel, a state government initiative which aims to put quality design at the centre of all development. Barbara’s core interest is to contribute in a truly meaningful way to improving the quality of the built environment so as to reduce the pressure on the natural environment. She is devoted to design excellence and sustainability in all its forms.

Garth Paterson FAILA

Garth is an Urban Designer and Landscape Architect with over 27 years experience. He holds a Bachelor of Landscape Architecture degree from The University of Canberra and a Master of Landscape Architecture in Urban Design from Harvard University, Graduate School of Design. In 2011, he was recognised as a leader in his profession and was elected a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Landscape Architects. He is a past State AILA president of the NSW chapter. Garth is also an active professional review panel member on over ten State and Local Government panels on a range of State Significant and Local Planning issues. During the past fifteen years he has led internal developer and consultant teams on many of Australia’s largest mixed use and residential developments; delivering balanced public / private outcomes in the development of the built environment.

Sarah Bendeich AILA

Sarah is a landscape architect, planner and place maker at the City of Hobart. She has a keen interest in retrofitting Hobart’s streets and public spaces to make the city more walkable, bikeable, sociable and sustainable. Sarah was design lead for award winning projects including the Hobart Waterfront upgrade, Franklin Square renewal and Hobart Rivulet shared path, and more recently has led deeply collaborative community placemaking projects to develop shared visions for change. She has come to understand the political complexity of local government, and the creative potential within it to achieve meaningful change.

Rebecca Lee

Rebecca is the recipient of the Landscape Architecture Centenary Scholarship and winner of the 2019 AILA Karl Langer award. Her pioneering work exploring drought in Queensland has been published in Landscape Architecture Australia. She maintains a strong design philosophy to reject paradigms; embrace complexity, weird ideas, the marginalized and vulnerable to construct alternative possibilities. Highly valuing technical rigor with on-ground, inclusive work processes and outcomes, she believes the field of landscape architecture has great capacity to spark new ways of living, thinking and interaction amongst people and land. Rebecca is incredibly excited to be on the jury panel and look forward to being inspired by the best works our profession has to offer.

Naomi Barun AILA

Naomi oversees rapidly evolving campus environments in her role as lead of the Campus Planning and Design team at the University of Melbourne. Through her work she is able to develop a robust approach to campus design, linking the future uses and needs of the organisation, with the campus’ unique sense of place and the practicalities of construction and operation. She is passionate about creating a legacy of unique campus experiences, through her leadership and advocacy of quality design outcomes.

Jefa Greenaway

Jefa Greenaway is a nationally recognised architect, Director of Greenaway Architects, academic at the University of Melbourne, design advocate and regular design commentator on ABC Radio Melbourne. He’s championed Indigenous led design thinking for two decades, including as co-founder of Indigenous Architecture + Design Victoria (IADV), and as co-author of the International Indigenous Design Charter. As a founding signatory of Architects Declare Australia, he has sought to foreground architecture’s role in to tackling the challenges of climate change and biodiversity loss. Jefa is a co-curator (with Tristan Wong) of the Australian exhibition at La Biennale Architettura di Venezia 2020. Photo credit: Peter Casamento.

Entry Process

Entry into the AILA Landscape Architecture Awards program is limited to a person, or a team where the landscape architectural component is under the substantive control or direction of a person, who is a Registered Landscape Architect or Member (financial) and principal of the practice (who is an owner or formal licensee of the copyright in the work being entered). To be eligible for entry, projects (where applicable) must have at least reached practical completion and be in all other respects complete to the point of enabling proper assessment by the Jury, no later than 31 December 2019. Entries will be considered in the Chapter in which the project is located, regardless of the business address of the entrant. Any project located outside Australia will only be eligible for an award in the International category.

To enter the Awards you must complete an online entry and pay the entry fee of $320+GST (per entry). Should your entry win at Chapter level, it will automatically progress to the National Award and no further fee is required. Entries close at 11:59pm AEST on 31 March 2020.

Your entry into the awards is completed by our online platform, Awards Force. Entrants are able to start their entry as in progress before submitting. To assist in your preparation of your submission, please read the following important documents: