Australia’s best landscapes were celebrated at the Australian Institute of Landscape Architects (AILA) 2022 National Awards on Friday, with 40 projects selected across green infrastructure, public open spaces, play, health, education and tourism spaces, and gardens.
The winners were selected from a pool of state winners across 17 categories, and included the Gosford Leagues Club Park and Cockatoo Island/Wareamah Concept Vision by Turf Design Studio, and the Wangayarta memorial park, co-designed by Kaurna Yerta Aboriginal Corporation, the Kaurna Community and Oxigen.
The $205 million redevelopment of the Gold Coast’s iconic 201 hectare Spit – the last remaining beachfront site in the area and nominated by Tourism Australia as Australia’s third best beach in 2022 – won an award for its luxury upgrade and public amenities.
Moort-ak Waadiny/Wellington Square in Perth with its playground and its memorial to the Stolen Generations, a skate park, parkour activities, a flying fox, embankment slides, a pump track, waterplay and climbing towers, and basketball courts was also honoured with an award.
With 350 new trees planted it was designed by the City of Perth, took 12 months to complete and was supported by a $4.37 million grant from Lotterywest.
Yuandang Bridge by China and Australia-based Brearley Landscape, Architecture + Urbanism, won an award in the international category. The snaking, futuristic bridge incorporates spaces for play, rest and planting, connecting two areas of wetland across Shanghai’s Yuandang Lake in China.
The 586-metre beam bridge for cyclists and pedestrians is a “hybrid structure”, blending architecture, infrastructure and landscape with the existing pathways and nature on the site.
Other winners included the Green Track for Parramatta Light Rail by Transport for NSW which won an award for its innovative plantings of grass across the Parramatta Light Rail project.
The keynote address by AILA president Claire Martin, associate director of OCULUS, reflected on contextual factors like the pandemic, a growing mental and physical health crisis, and the climate and biodiversity emergency.
“Over the last year we have seen the cost of living soar, housing affordability diminish, and the preventative mental and physical health crises worsen,” she said.
She said that there is a growing need for connection to each other and our environments.
“People want where they live to improve their quality of life, their physical and mental health, and the health of Australia’s waterways, habitats and wildlife,” Ms Martin said.
“Landscape architects work everyday to design the sort of spaces and places that deliver these social, cultural, environmental and economic benefits.”
The jury was made up of industry leaders including previous AILA president Shaun Walsh, Greenaway Architects’ Jefa Greenaway, and Dr Caroline Butler-Bowdon, executive director of cities revitalisation and place at Transport for NSW.
Ms Martin said the Awards showcase the positive impact of landscape architects on the community.
“The spaces and places landscape architects design help people to care, play, learn, and work, to exercise or to rest, to find respite or to gather, to celebrate or commemorate. They help to tell the truth about our history and speculate about a more equitable future.”
“The range of projects recognised in this year’s awards illustrate how children and adults of diverse cultures and backgrounds connect to landscapes every day across a range of scales – from neighbourhoods to campuses, buildings to infrastructure, suburbs to cities.”