Jury comment
Albert Park Office and Depot provides a new base for the caretakers of the park and the wider region for Parks Victoria. A masterfully conceived and detailed interplay between the landscape and the architecture helps to blend the building into the park grounds. It creates a structure that is clearly of the park, where the boundaries between inside and outside, and public and private, are blurred. The architecture is cleverly articulated to provide a diversity of habitats and favourable microclimates for planting and people. A variety of planting forms are successfully applied for passive climate control while still allowing for visual permeability. The endemic species strategy contributes to increased biodiversity and showcases native flora. The combined and stacked facility leaves a smaller footprint on the park, but enables maximum planting across different planes to create vertical relief in a largely lawned landscape. The overgrown ground, walls and ceilings add seasonal interest to the architectural facades, contributing biophilic benefit to both users and visitors. It demonstrates best-practice collaboration between consultants, achieving a building that is part of nature.
Albert Park Office and Depot is located in Albert Park, Victoria on the land of the Kulin people.
Project credits
Architects Harrison and White with Archier Project manager Accuraco Engineer Wood and Grieve Engineers Sustainability consultant Hip v. Hype Contractor Building Engineering Photographer Peter Bennetts
To view all the winners of the 2021 National Landscape Architecture Awards, go here.
