The unique design of the Australian Garden in Cranbourne takes out international award.
September 22nd, 2009
The Australian Garden – the latest addition the the Royal Botanic Garden in Cranbourne, Victoria – was awarded the International Federation of Landscape Architects Design Excellence award at the Asia Pacific Region Congress earlier this month.
Taylor Cullity Lethlean (TCL) with Paul Thompson have taken the idea of curated gardens out of the realm of European structure and given it back to the Australian natural landscape.
Using a range of sculptural and artistic landscape elements and incoporating those most iconic, vivid Australian colours, red earth, deep greens and blue sky (on a clear day of course), the designers have created an educational and rich experience for visitors.
An exploration of Australians’ relationship with their surroundings, The Australian Garden could only have worked on this large scale.
“The garden expresses this tension between Australians’ reverence and sense of awe for the natural landscape, and their innate impulse to change it, to make it into a humanly contrived form, beautiful yet their own work,” TCL explain.
The garden consists of several zones, from ‘abstracted woodlands’ and sand gardens on the western side to more structured highly designed gardens on the eastern side.
A large waterway divides these two personalities, ‘mediating’ between the natural and human derived elements. A large sculptural wall of red rusted steel interlocking blocks (like a rugged escarpment) designed by Greg Clrake, runs along the side of the creek.
Juxtaposing this water element is the large dry ‘red centre’ of the Sand Garden, created to resemble the Australian interior, with its low-clipped vegetation and rolling dunes of red sand.
The Australian Garden aims to show visitors the benefits and natural beauty of Australian landscapes and flora. Taylor Cullity Lethlean and Paul Thompson are now working on Stage two of the gardens, due for completion in 2011.
Hero image: View from the visitors centre of the sand garden. Photo by Peter Hyatt
Aerial photograph of The Australian Garden Stage 1. Photo by Peter Hyatt
Image Credits (Below):
2 – 3. Dianna Snape
4 – 5. Peter Hyatt
6 – 9. Ben Wrigley
A searchable and comprehensive guide for specifying leading products and their suppliers
Keep up to date with the latest and greatest from our industry BFF's!
Living Edge definitely has the edge when it comes to supplying furniture for the education sector. With a plethora of brands and collections at their fingertips, Living Edge provides the perfect solution for any learning environment.
Bromic’s Eclipse Collection adds a strikingly functional showpiece to luxurious outdoor spaces providing innovative outdoor heating and lighting solutions.
The Didier Design Studio is expanding its signature table ranges into a fierce exploration of natural phenomena.
In Shanghai this week, Finland’s national carrier announced an inspired, strategic partnership with fellow Finnish export brand Marimekko
Toward the end of April, NAWIC hosted a private viewing of the Archibald, Wynne and Sulman Prizes at the Art Gallery of New South Wales.
The internet never sleeps! Here's the stuff you might have missed
Available exclusively via K5 Furniture, Bosnian brand Zanat’s exquisite new range of unique hand-carved furniture reveal the story of the people and materials, namely wood, that are weaved into them.
The Ferntree Gully Campus project’s sophisticated design vision combines with eco-friendly carpet tiles from Carpet Inter and Above Left to provide a comfortable and productive learning environment.
Artifical Intelligence is the topic of the day in the design world. Whether it fills you with excitement, dread or something in between, it’s a crucial time to tackle the issues at hand with nuance and depth. Timothy Alouani-Roby met with Woods Bagot associate and tech advocate, Jet Geaghan, to discuss in this first of two parts.