An artist’s impression of Melbourne covered in rooftop gardens and roadway parks.
Photo: Anton Malishev, Source: The Age
11 December 2015 [ArchitectAU]
MacKenzie Falls wins 2015 Victorian Premier’s Design Awardsgong
Hansen Partnership’sMacKenzie Falls Gorge Trail has won Best in Category for Architectural Design in the 2015 Victorian Premier’s DesignAwards. The project is located in the Grampians National park in Victoria’s west, an area frequentlyravaged by fire and flood. Hansen Partnership resurrected a pedestrian path and river crossing,that was destroyed, with a highly site-specific gesture rarely seen in Australian national parks and conservationareas. Read more.
17 December 2015 [Sydney Morning Herald]
Mixed reactions to City of Melbourne’s Rooftop Project
While the City of Melbourne announced its Rooftop Project –a map of CBD rooftops that could be utilised for rooftop gardens, solar panels or cool roofs – with its share of fanfare last month, the project has been met with scepticism by some key local sustainability advocates. Read more.
18 December 2015 [Bendigo Weekly]
New play hive project a win, win, win
An interesting mentorship between senior volunteers and local young people is under way at the Salvation Army’s Men’s Shed at Gravel Hill. It will result in a unique new play hive for the Strathdale Park Regional Play Space in Crook Street. Read more.
31 December 2015 [Sydney Morning Herald]
Sydney's beauty relies on its visual and physical connection to nature
There is a vantage point of the greater Sydney area that puts our lives into perspective with the broader landscape. It's on the Bells Line of Road at Bellbird Hill, just outside the Blue Mountains National Park. A small lay-by allows a panoramic view of pretty much the whole basin. Few other cities have such a vantage point across their expanse, and our famous CBD is the merest speck in the distance. Development seems scattered and the overall impression is of the hills, rivers, trees and then finally the great expanse of ocean. Read more.
8 January 2016 [WaterPower Magazine]
Aussie Farm Dam Make-over
As part of their landscape architecture degree, students from the Queensland University of Technology have given the traditional Australian farm dam a change of image. Read more.
13 January 2016 [Architecture & Design]
“It is important to be innovate, but equally to keep it simple.” – Place Design Group’s Wal Smith
Wal Smith, director of Place Design Group, was awarded a fellowship with the Australian Institute of Landscape Architects in 2015 for his commitment and contribution to the industry. Read more.
15 January 2016 [ArchitectureAU]
The Australian Institute of Landscape Architects (AILA) has launched a national competition, Australia’s Best Playground, to recognize well-designed public play spaces such as adventure playgrounds, cross fit circuits, senior fitness courses and water play. The competition is open to AILA members with finished play space projects, including registered landscape architects, registered landscape architect applicants and graduate members. Read more.
18 January 2016 [Architecture & Design]
AILA launches national competition for Australia’s Best Playground
The Australian Institute of Landscape Architects (AILA) announces a national competition to recognise and celebrate some of Australia’s best designed public playspaces as well as the landscape architects who designed them. Read more.
19 January 2016 [TurfMate]
Green Visions: Nature as infrastructure
Nature has a critical role in supporting economic prosperity, health and wellbeing.
A number of recent industry campaigns and major policy documents from both state and local government levels promote nature’s critical role in supporting economic prosperity, health and wellbeing. Read more.
19 January 2016 [Architecture AU]
Vic students flock to architecture and building courses
Data released by the Victorian Tertiary Admissions Centre reveals a sharp rise in first-round offers to undergraduate architecture and building-related courses. Offers in architecture and building are up 13 percent from last year – the second biggest rise behind agriculture and environment (56 percent). Read more.
19 January 2016 [Community News]
Video of school’s vision for open space a finalist
Highgate Primary School is a state finalist in an inaugural competition to encourage more green spaces at schools. Read more.
20 January 2016 [Australian Financial Review]
Living architecture gets cities green and growing
Landscape architects and environmental engineers are playing a crucial role putting the green into urban jungles, writes Paul Best. It was the "dream brief" for Matthew Mackay – an opportunity for the lead landscape architect for international design practice Hassell and his team to inject some much-needed vim and vigour into Melbourne's Docklands, a site notorious for being windswept, soulless and short on greenness. And to work with a client, health insurer Medibank Private, which wanted new corporate headquarters that promoted physical health and mental wellbeing, inside and out. Read more.
20 January 2016 [The Fifth Estate]
The Feds want to plant 20 million trees but NSW (joins Qld) and declares war
Environment minister Greg Hunt surprised the nation when he announced that urban heat islands are a major issue to tackle – mainly through tree canopies. He wants to plant 20 million trees, he said after a speech at the Sydney Business Chamber on Tuesday. But in a twist that defies expectations, NSW premier Mike Baird has at the same time been accused of launching a wholesale war on trees, and is about to launch similar strikes through land clearing. Read more.
21 January 2016 [ArchitectureAU]
More trees in cities: Federal gov’t to set national goals
The federal government has announced it will establish goals for increasing the urban tree canopy cover in Australia’s cities, in an effort to reduce the heat island effect. Read more.
22 January 2016 [The Real Estate Conversation]
Where’s our best playground? Competition to celebrate Australia’s best designed public playspaces.
Is your local playground a kid’s paradise? A well-designed playspace not only encourages healthy physical activity and develop in children, but can also provide a supportive social environment for community interaction, and a boost to neighbouring homes. Read more.
22 January 2016 [Architecture & Design]
BVN propose cluster of buildings for $110 million Zetland multi-res precinct
An application to develop a $110 million medium-density residential project at Zetland has landed on the desk of the City of Sydney Council (CoS) and promises to be a major stepping stone in the area’s path towards urban renewal. Read more.
22 January 2016 [WA Today]
Elizabeth Quay: the Perth waterfront designs that were never built
Ahead of the opening of Elizabeth Quay next Friday, an exhibition at the Museum of Perth explores the unrealised schemes for Perth’s waterfront. Construction on the public realm of Perth’s much-anticipated waterfrong development at Elizabeth Quay by ARM Architecture and Taylor Cullity Lethlean is drawing to a close. It’s completion will be a landmark moment for the city, delivering a major, urban public space that will serve to connect the CBD with the Swan River. Read more.
22 January 2016 [The Blacktown Sun]
Western Sydney takes heat island battle into own hands
Western Sydney is not waiting for Greg Hunt’s trees. This week, the acting Cities Minister announced a federal government pledge to increase tree coverage in Australian cities each decade to 2050, in an effort to “green” and “cool” the city. Read more.
25 January 2016 [Australian Leisure Management]
South Australian Government Reveals Adelaide Festival Plaza Plans
The South Australia Government has revealed details of its plan to redevelop the Adelaide Festival Plaza into a thriving hub and public event space in the city. The proposed new plaza – designed by ARM Architecture and Taylor Cullity Lethlean – will cover 26,000 m2 of public space and be focused around a new Art Space Plaza and central garden. A tree-lined avenue will link this space with the city and a new promenade featuring cafes, restaurants, performing arts space and a public square centred around a water feature. Read more.
25 January 2016 [Architecture & Design]
ARM reveals new design plans for Adelaide Festival Plaza upgrade
ARM Architecture and landscape architects Taylor Cullity Lethlean (TCL) have unveiled design plans for the proposed upgrade of the Adelaide Festival Plaza. Read more.
26 January 2016 [WA Today]
Greener cities the key to happier, healthier, stress-free lives
People are biologically wired to need to be close to nature, with more green open spaces and roof gardens needed to support their wellbeing, a new study says. A lack of access to greenery could play a role in stress and overall poor heatlh, with experts calling on architects and urban planners to provide more green, open spaces in built-up areas. Read more.
26 January 2016 [SMEC]
SMEC to Upgrade High-Traffic Bridge in Melbourne, Australia
SMEC, in association with Fulton Hogan and Cox Architecture, has secured the Design and Construct (D&C) contract for Stage 1 of the West Gate Distributor Project in Melbourne, Australia. Read more.
26 January 2016 [The Age]
Greener cities the key to happier, healthier, stress-free lives
People are biologically wired to need to be close to nature, with more green open spaces and roof gardens needed to support their wellbeing, a new study says. A lack of access to greenery could play a role in stress and overall poor health, with experts calling on architects and urban planners to provide more green, open spaces in built-up areas. Read more.
28 January 2016 [The Property Addict]
ARM reveals new design plans for Adelaide Festival Plaza upgrade
ARM Architecture and landscape Taylor Cullity Lethlean (TCL) have unveiled design plans for the proposed upgrade of the Adelaide Festival Plaza. The upgrade covers 26,000 square metres of public space surrounding the Adelaide Festival Centre, including Adelaide Railway Station, Adelaide Casino, Parliament House and Old Parliament House in addition to Station Road and Festival Drive. Read more.
28 January 2016 [Alt Media]
Mercury up in Bays precinct
Sydney’s largest urban redevelopment project could end up the inner west’s hottest place, with a new study showing temperatures along the coastal Bays Precinct could hit nearly 50 degrees due to a lack of urban greenery. This has led to claims the NSW Government is at odds with the Federal Government’s recently announced urban tree coverage vision. Read more.