One of Australia’s top awards for design, the Good Design of the Year Award, has gone to a set of ferry terminals in Brisbane by Aurecon and Cox Rayner Architects (now Cox Architecture) with landscape architecture by Lat27.
Brisbane Ferry Terminals by Aurecon and Cox Rayner Architects (now Cox Architecture), landscape architecture by Lat27.
Image: Christopher Frederick Jones
The structures are believed to be the first flood-resistant ferry terminals in the world, able to withstand one-in-a-500-year flood event and can accommodate the river’s two-metre tidal range.
The design of the terminals includes a floating pontoon, secured by a single pier, and a detachable gangway. During a flood event, the gangway moves out of the way to avoid the build up of debris and the pontoon rises with the flood waters along the pier.
The judging panel said, “This is an excellent example of multi-disciplinary design collaboration that has resulted in a truly innovative and game-changing project. Every detail of this project has been meticulously designed and engineered with the end-user in mind. [It is] a truly ground-breaking design innovation that has the potential to be adapted and used all over the world.”
The Queensland government held a design competition to replace the ferry terminals after they were damaged by severe flooding in 2011. The winning design consortium originally also included Derlot.
Eight ferry terminals have been along the Brisbane River. Lat27 collaborated on the surrounding landscape architecture and public realm of the terminals.
In a review for Landscape Architecture Australia, Suzanne Kyte noted that, “While the project was initially about simply replacing infrastructure, it also provided an opportunity to achieve greater flood resilience, improved accessibility, compliance with disability standards, increased network efficiency and an enhanced connection with the river.”
The Urban Design and Public Spaces award was won by two projects. The first, Hassett Park, was designed by Jane Irwin Landscape Architecture with collaborators Hill Thalis Architecture and Urban Design and Cardno.
Hassett Park by Jane Irwin Landscape Architecture with collaborators Hill Thalis Architecture and Urban Design and Cardno.
Image: Dianna Snape
The new public park is part of the Campbell 5 residential development of a site in central Canberra at the corner of Constitution Avenue and Anzac Parade. The design converted a pre-existing drainage line and farm dam on the site into a new urban creek, woven around the contours of a former gully. Sinuous walls and paths emanate from the form of the creek, structuring movement and use in the park, and edges of native grassland, wildflowers and forbs contrast with established European trees.
According to the design statement, “The urban stream daylights and treats stormwater, creating a delightful educative overlay that reconnects people to natural systems in the city.”
Hassett Park was also the recipient of the 202020 Vision Green Design Award, a new addition to the Good Design Awards that rewards excellence in sustainable design.
The award was jointly awarded to landscape architects Oxigen, with Renewal SA, City of Marion, Gray Hawk, Matt Jonsson, Electrolight, Guildhouse, KBR, WSP, Woods Bagot, Tridente Architects and Rider Levett Bucknall, for the planning of the renewal of the 61-hectare Tonsley site in Adelaide. In her review for Landscape Architecture Australia in October 2016, Jo Russell-Clarke writes that “a series of initial insertions compel attention, drawing visitors and users into an intimate engagement with quirky bespoke elements and delivering on the promise of placemaking and community interaction.”
Tonsley Innovation District Urban Design and Public Spaces by Oxigen, with Renewal SA, City of Marion, Gray Hawk, Matt Jonsson, Electrolight, Guildhouse, KBR, WSP, Woods Bagot, Tridente Architects and Rider Levett Bucknall.
Image: Travis Wright
“The built reality of Tonsley so far is a very big achievement. Landscape architects have mastered the site breadth and temporal stretch of the long-term project. Oxigen has also delivered detailed custom design of intimate places developed closely with skilled artisan collaborators.”
The Australian Good Design Awards were established by the Industrial Design Council of Australia in 1958. Awards are given to architecture as well as consumer and industrial design projects.
