Jury comment
The Rural City of Wangaratta, 235 kilometres north of Melbourne, sits at the gateway to Victoria’s high country region and attracts over three million visitors per year. The Wangaratta Railway Precinct project is a restrained response. During development, collaboration with council and engagement with the local community and stakeholders emphasized the need to reinforce the welcoming character of Wangaratta by prioritizing people over cars. The jury commends the project’s sensitive planting design that provides high levels of comfort, visual amenity, pollinator habitat, shade through warmer months, and filtered light during cooler periods. It also commends the project’s water-sensitive urban design approach, which helps to mitigate flood events while improving water quality and passively irrigating garden beds.
Wangaratta Railway Precinct – Stage 01 was built in Wangaratta, Victoria on the land of the Yorta Yorta people.
Project credits
Urban designer and landscape architect Hassell Urban art collaborator Alleycat Creative Structural and civil engineer Northrop Accessibility consultant Morris Goding Access Consulting Lighting designer Webb Australia Group Cost planning consultant Zinc Cost Management Access and movement consultant Stantec Wayfinding consultant Maynard Design Surveyor Oxley and Company Photographer Sarah Pannell
To view all the winners of the 2023 National Landscape Architecture Awards, go here.
