NATIONAL AWARD OF EXCELLENCE FOR DESIGN
Rio Tinto Naturescape, Kings Park & Botanic Gardens
Plan (E)
Client: Botanic Gardens & Park Authority (WA)

An innovative response to a challenging brief, Rio Tinto Naturescape delivers not only a natural creek system as a playspace for children, but it does so in a manner that is respectful and sensitive to the existing environmental conditions and cultural systems.
The thoughtful, contemporary design elements, sculpters and hierarchy of paths also provide an educational experience and journey for adults and carers.
This responsive design sets an exemplar for the future provision of recreational and educational facilities in bushland settings located in urban environments.
NATIONAL AWARD FOR DESIGN
Pirrama Park
ASPECT Studios
Client: City of Sydney
Project Partners: ASPECT Studios. Hill Thalis Architecture + Urban Projects, CAB Consulting and The City of Sydney

Pirrama Park restores the powerful relationship between Harris Street and the water, delivering unique, waterside community facilities, innovative sustainable components (including solar energy and far reaching storm water initiatives).
Pirrama Park transforms a fenced-off post-industrial concrete slab into a richly varied urban waterfront parkland. The park design interprets the site’s successive shorelines and rich maritime associations and creates a series clearly defined park rooms each with different opportunities for use and activity. The materials palette unifies the site and promotes durability and robustness appropriate to a public situation and suggests the site’s former character. The harbour edge has again become a wonderful social place for landing small watercraft, wading and swimming, fishing and yarning, reinstating ways in which the harbour at Pyrmont used to be incorporated into daily rituals.
A key to the Pirrama’s success has been the Play Space by Registered Landscape Architect Fionna Robbe. The Play Space reflects her philosophy that best possible opportunities should be available to children and young people to kindle resilience and to encourage and support active, engaged participation in a future of challenge and dynamic change.
This new parkland is evidence of the ability of good design to change and revitalise communities returning valuable open space to the hands of the community.
NATIONAL AWARD FOR DESIGN
Jack Evans Boat Harbour - Tweed Heads
ASPECT Studios
Client: Tweed Shire Council
Project Partners: Tweed Shire Council, McGregor Westlake Architecture, Cardno Grogan Richards, Webb Australia, Wilde and Wollard

This project responds sensitively to the challenges faced by many coastal areas -beach erosion, tidal surges and flood events.
After extensive consultation with the local community, the final design preserves existing beach areas, introduces new and durable interpretations of beach-like experiences and creates a broad, high-quality, harbour-side public domain.
The use of timber boardwalks reflects the jetties of the area, while stacked, concrete fingers are a visually-pleasing adaptation of traditional sea-wall stabilisation techniques.
NATIONAL AWARD FOR DESIGN
SW1
Andrew Green(formerly Gamble McKinnon Green)
Client: Property Solutions and Austcorp

The strength of the design influence of the landscape architect is evident in the integration of plants with a restrained natural materials palette to unify private and public open space.
This influence is delivered via a layout that provides a variety of places for gathering and a sub-tropical refuge and thoroughfare within the urban fabric of Brisbane’s West End.
SW 1 successfully employs green infrastructure in a seamless way to benefit the amenity and liveability of medium density housing and provides a model of sustainable mixed use development.
NATIONAL AWARD FOR DESIGN
Mueller Park Universal Playspace
Ecoscape (Australia) Pty Ltd
Client: City of Subiaco
Partners: Water Features By Design

Mueller Park represents a promising progression in the development of all-abilities playgrounds.
Rather than the primitive response of including one or two pieces of segregated and disability-specific equipment, modern playgrounds allow children of all abilities to play together.
This project goes a step further with the use of high-quality play equipment, carefully designed to suit the site and respect its context. Natural and reclaimed materials feature in a well resolved combination of off-the-shelf and custom-designed elements. The result is an intriguing and engaging playground which reflects an Australian commitment to social inclusion.
NATIONAL AWARD FOR DESIGN
Robelle Domain
Vee Design
Client: Ipswich City Council

This master-planned residential development embraces natural drainage lines to manage flood events and cleanse stormwater in a way that enhances the development of public open space.
Robelle Domain identifies the needs of the greater Ipswich community and delivers a network of linear trails with external and internal connections to passive and active recreational spaces through a variety of landscaped treatments that replicate natural landscape typologies.
Robelle Domain is a sound, working example for the future integration of natural systems with recreational needs for communities.
NATIONAL AWARD FOR DESIGN
The Australian Garden and New Entry at the National Gallery of Australia
McGregor Coxall

The NGA and its surrounding sculpture gardens were completed in 1983; in 2005 McGregor Coxall were commissioned to prepare master planning and detailed designs for the public spaces associated with the new entrance and a new Australian Garden on the site of a previous car park.
These new gardens include a skyspace sculpture, ‘Within Without’ by American artist James Turrell. The centrepiece of the Australian Garden is a large pond in which the prominent artwork appears to float. The landscape architects worked closely with the artist to locate the sculpture on the southeast corner of the garden. Here it affords the best possible viewing aspect and is surrounded by mature native trees.
This project exemplifies best practice in designing with endemic species for year-round floral display, employing sustainable design principles and ensuring minimal (and ultimately no) water consumption. In doing so McGregor Coxall have produced a timeless, elegant and uncluttered sculpture garden which provides a seamless connection between its much older neighbour (The National Gallery Sculpture Garden) and its extraordinary new centrepiece.
NATIONAL AWARD FOR DESIGN
Wild Sea Exhibit, Melbourne Zoo
Taylor Cullity Lethlean
Client: Zoos Victoria
Partners: Troppo Architects, David Lancashire Design, Oceanis

This is an innovative marine zoo exhibit, which brings the visitor into an exciting and educative facility which at the same time offers both a beautiful and educational experience.
Outstanding aspects of the Exhibit include:- the sustainability considerations including the closed water system, The Deep, the underwater exhibit, and the integrated and evocative design of the other marine exhibits.
It is evident that the consultative process and design planning was comprehensive and responsive to both the zoo’s and the visitors needs. The jury commend that the educational and sustainable design considerations were maintained alongside the structural and exhibit’s design development and contemporary built expression.
A commendable and crucial factor to the successful integrated built achievement was the close collaboration of the landscape architect with the architect and engineer.
NATIONAL AWARD FOR DESIGN
Humanities and Science Campus (Parliamentary Triangle, Canberra)
Spackman Mossop Michaels
Client: National Capital Authority
Partners: Lahznimmo Architects

This design demonstrates an exemplary responsiveness to its setting of landmark buildings, including the National Library, National Gallery, and Questacon, and to an urban open space with complex relationships, circulation and viewing needs.
The design planning and then the design implementation have achieved a successful integration of the formal vistas, the structured, tree shaded sculpture rooms and the native planted, organic forms, inspired by the regional bushland, which seamlessly and appropriately links to the Reconciliation Place.
The space has been transformed to a notable addition to Canberra’s civic realm, already with a distinct identity and eminently usable and evocative spaces.