The winning entry for Optional Module 1, Landscape Character Plan, is Number 40 submitted by Mark Lindsay Tyrrell and Sharon Wright.

This landscape character plan is a powerful and poetic proposal that defines the campus from within and without, drawing with a genuine certainty upon the Canberra bush setting and regional landscape. The proposal interprets and elevates the local context. It takes and works with the existing condition - the ancient weathered landform, the dry forest, the ephemeral wetland and the watercourse. It utilises a cohesive and elegant planting palette, a subtle topography and sophisticated storm water dispersal and it reinterprets the use of native vegetation. While the plan concentrates on selected areas of the Campus it defines a cohesive approach delineating a rich robust character to inform the elaboration of the Campus landscape. 

Prize: $30,000.00.

The Winning Design

Landscape Character Plan (PDF format 5.1 Mb for Acrobat 6 and later.)

Explanatory Text

A Strong Campus Structure

Our scheme works with the unique landform and vegetation existing around the University of Canberra campus and remodels it to create a very strong campus structure. Contextually, we have worked to draw in borrowed views of the surrounding landscape and on a more detailed level tried to achieve a strong sense of place through the expression of the particular beauty of the local landscape. Structurally, the proposal introduces large gridded tree plantations that seek to bind together disparate elements of the campus.

At an experiential level, where grids meet and change, separate areas are either defined or linked to others. The campus demands a strong scheme to pull its parts together. The proposed vegetation structure seeks to enhance the feeling of the concourse as a cohesive center within a sequence of linked spaces and uses the strength of the existing building grids and landscape to do so.

A Landform and Planting Proposal

Our proposal works with the strengths of the site and is in essence a landform and planting proposal.

We have chosen a palette of vegetation based upon its dramatic colour and textural contrast and related to its natural growing conditions regarding topography, hydrology and microclimate. Areas outside of the concourse and on higher topography use trees from our ‘black selection’ of species. In contrast, within the concourse and heart of the university, trees from our ‘white selection’ are proposed.

Whilst the black and white dry vegetation is proposed for the upper ridges and slopes, the lower parts of topography weave a thread of green throughout the black and white. Principles of Water Sensitive Urban Design are expressed along this green thread, becoming moments of ephemeral 21st century water features expressed throughout the campus. Ephemeral layers present throughout the water treatment train proposal draw attention to changing weather conditions and the natural processes that govern the university site.

Clear Campus Entries

Creating a strong sense of arrival and departure at key points identified in the Campus Masterplan has been central to our proposal. Plant structure rhythms, contrasting vegetation colours and choreographed topographic moments have been utilised along key sequences to create clear definition of space and a dramatic sense of arrival or departure. Entry points have also been related to a series of proposed built form interventions including proposed teaching buildings, new library, Great Hall and Chancellery.

Varied Places Within a Bold, Simple Structure

Within the scheme, there are a series of ‘event spaces’ and both the proposed landscape character and the sequences of clear paths link these spaces. The vegetation at these points is characterised by a break from the overarching black, white and thread of green structure. They will be small moments of other species, creating a mosaic of linked ecological and colour patches often associated with seating and gathering areas. The structure will be bold and simple, yet diverse enough to achieve a high level of biodiversity and aesthetic variation. At two key moments within the scheme, where The Concourse meets The University Green, ridge and valley conditions are abstracted to become key nodal decision points. Here, cast as a subtle relief in the face of the bleached concrete of the abstracted spurs are drawings telling stories about the surrounding landscape.

At present, the university public domain is lacking in strength. Clear paths, a high level of legibility and strong, spatial structure characterises our proposal. Sense of arrival is heightened through topographic and vegetation associations as well as proposed planting, landform and spatial geometries that relate to those of the existing campus. It is a scheme of bold contrast and memorable places, woven through with a fine grain of water treatment interventions, places for people to gather, learn or simply reflect.