2010 AILA National Landscape Architecture Award of Excellence: Design

Darlington Public Domain Stage 2, University of Sydney by Taylor Cullity Lethlean

Client: University of Sydney

Jury comment

This project evolved from Taylor Cullity Lethlean’s Fertile Ground entry to the University of Sydney’s Campus 2010 international design competition for reimagining the public domain of the campus. Conceptually drawn from the site’s Indigenous and colonial history and the university’s built heritage, the design’s clear and bold gestures are restrained in its remaking and reorienting of campus spaces. To enhance movement and repose, the project integrates new gardens for teaching and research, with bioretention systems and a 150,000-litre water storage tank.

The jury appreciated the creation of a hierarchy of spaces and the careful selection of tree species for the planting design that promises to evolve into a particularly beautiful campus space over the coming years. In collaboration with artist Paul Carter, the landscape construction enjoys a subtle and delightful patina of sandblasted patterning, with the addition of custom-designed seating serving as “follies” situated in a eucalyptus grove. Overall the scheme’s attention to careful detailing and high quality construction delivers a beautifully resolved public space.

For further coverage see Landscape Architecture Australia 123, August 2009.