The winners of The Future Park Design Ideas Competition were announced on Friday, October 11 during the 2019 International Festival of Landscape Architecture.
Winning the competition with their design ‘The GAP’ was a team comprised of professional architects and University of Melbourne landscape architecture students.
Intended as a “new landscape system that cuts through Melbourne’s urban form as a response to the world’s climate emergency”, the design by Marti Fooks, Claire Winsor, Suhas Vasudeva and Jacqueline Heggli is also a pointed commentary on the wage disparity between Australia’s men and women. With the average weekly ordinary full time earnings siting 9.3% apart as of November 2018, “The GAP seeks to restore balance… representing a moment in history, an awareness of inequality at a point of no return”.
Jury Chair Jacky Bowring noted that ‘The GAP’ is “an ambitious vision which combines a critique of social injustice with a driver for landscape change in the city. Beautifully presented, with accessible graphics, a project that will encourage conversations and discussions among professionals, politicians and the public.”
Two designs were awarded joint second place: ‘Parker Model’ from Alter Atlas Architecture and ‘The NBN’ from Alexander Breedon, an Australian Landscape Architect based in China. ‘Parker Model “seeks to realise the undeveloped potential of the existing buildings in the City of Melbourne… imagining a future where nature, climate change and public amenities are placed as top priority in our governmental budgets and on the forefront of our esteemed developers’ minds”. Satirising elements of Australian politics ‘The NBN’ is “a vision for an ecological project of continental reach and significance. Outrageously bold at over 60,000km it brings forward the question ‘Why is biodiversity not a national aspiration?’”
The Future Park International Design Ideas Competition challenged professional and emerging landscape architects, urban designers, architects and planners to speculate on new park possibilities for a future Melbourne. How can parks shape Melbourne’s urban form? Where should this new public open space be located, how should it be configured and what is its role?
Winners of the competition shared a prize pool of 20,000 and their work, alongside the other 28 shortlisted designs, is being exhibited throughout October in the Melbourne School of Designs’ Dulux Gallery. The exhibition features multimedia and printed designs of all 31 shortlisted entries.
Held in partnership with the Australian Institute of Landscape Architects, the competition will be judged with winners announced during the 2019 International Festival of Landscape Architecture. The jury comprises:
Professor Jacky Bowring (Jury Chair)
Jill Garner (Victorian Government Architect)
Professor Julia Czerniak
Mark Skiba
Dr Susan Alberti
Reuben Hore-Waterhouse
Exhibition details:
4 October – 1 November
Dulux Gallery, Ground level, Glyn Davis Building (Melbourne School of Design) The University of Melbourne, Parkville, 3010.
