Guymer Bailey has designed the landscape of the Maroochy Botanic Gardens Arts and Ecology Centre as both an educational experience and as a means for people to enjoy the natural features of the Botanic Gardens and surrounding bushland.
The Centre has been created for all community members for social and cultural reasons; and all of this is attuned to the philosophy that ecology is at the heart of sustainability and is therefore crucial when cultivating such designs. The Sunshine Coast Regional Council, community and special interest groups now have the environment for workshops, education programs, meetings and artistic exhibitions.
The design foregrounds the abiding connection between architecture and landscape architecture; the building and landscape designs become one in responding to the site’s topographical parameters. For example, the building’s internal spaces ease out to landscape courtyards creating flexible activity spaces taking advantage of the verdant aesthetics of the surrounding environment.
The landscape displays environmentally sustainable elements for visitor education. For example, overland flow paths simulate natural creek channels by using rocks and gravel surfaces, macrophytic plants and bioretention basins to control and filter stormwater runoff.
We have collaborated with Maroochy Botanic Garden staff to develop a native garden design that uses plants species endemic to the Sunshine Coast region and immediate bushland context. This flora promotes favourable micro-climatic conditions and ensures sustainable and healthy plant growth without the need for permanent irrigation.
Maroochy Botanic Gardens Arts & Ecology Centre – Queensland, Australia
Completed August 2011
Client Sunshine Coast Regional Council
Cost $AUD3m (total construction budget)
Landscape Architect | Guymer Bailey Landscape
Landscape Architecture Project Team |
Adrian Sheppard
Robert Waddell
Julia Dionysius
Ralph Bailey
Architect | Guymer Bailey Architects
Structural | Engineer Tate Engineers
Civil Engineer | Callaghan and Toth
Electrical/Mechanical Engineer | Hawkins Jenkins Ross
Geotechnical Engineer |Golder Associates
Quantity Surveyor | Wilde and Woollard
Image Credit | Scott Burrows
