Winners of the 2022 Landscape Architecture Awards Announced in Victoria

The Australian Institute of Landscape Architects (AILA) has officially announced the 2022 winners of the Landscape Architecture Awards in Victoria, an annual program designed to celebrate excellence in landscape architecture.

In Victoria, a total of 60 projects were entered, with 34 awards allocated in areas that successfully demonstrate the positive impact that well designed outdoor spaces have on public life, such as Health and Education, Play Spaces, and Gardens.

An innovative space for the creative community, a four-decade long volunteering effort, a healing garden at the Heide Museum, and a new green open space in Melbourne’s CBD are just some of the entries that have been recognised as part of this year’s AILA Victoria Landscape Architecture Awards.

The Victorian Chapter is delighted to announce the official project winners of each category, and the Future Leaders in their state.

“The awards provide a vehicle to publicly promote and demonstrate to industry, business, government and the wider community the positive impact the profession has on Australian lives through the planning and design of the built and natural environments,” said Lisa Howard, AILA Victoria Landscape Architecture Awards Jury Chair.

“Across the projects, we did see a couple of key themes start to emerge. We saw a vast number of entries in the Cultural Heritage category, which is a reflection on the sorts of values that we are starting to see embedded in landscape architecture. We are seeing cultural values alongside social values, environmental values, and sustainability values. For the Jury, it was not just about acknowledging the knowledge that has been transferred to landscape architects, and passed through to us from Traditional Owners, but also about how that knowledge is then brought forth into a project, and how that knowledge is embedded into an outcome, so that the end user is also getting to experience this incredible understanding of country,” said Ms Howard.

AILA Victoria has highlighted the Avalon Corridor Strategy Values Assessment as a project that is ambitious and forward thinking. It considers a vast tract of culturally significant lands and waterways under pressure from urban development to help shape decision making for the Avalon corridor.

“The project is commendable for going beyond consultation, to engage to the Wadawurrung as a key collaborator and co-author of the project, which has both built capability and ensured voices are heard. It is innovative in framing Wadawurrung values and living cultural heritage into in a format aligned with Government Legislation. It acts as a strong precedent for the empowerment of Traditional Owner groups to participate in and inform planning processes.”

“Across the entries, we saw a vast range of project types, from small, beautiful projects with biodiversity as key drivers, to massive landscape planning projects, as well as infrastructure projects. This is a real testament to all of us in the profession that we can work across a diverse range of scales.” Ms. Howard said.

AILA Victoria 2022 Winners for the Landscape Architecture Awards

• Civic Landscape — Pentridge Piazza, ASPECT Studios
• Civic Landscape — Hampshire Road Civic Green, Brimbank City Council
• Community Contribution (Award of Excellence) — Yaluk Langa Design Framework – Heide Museum of Modern Art, Urban Initiatives
• Community Contribution — Collingwood Yards, SBLA Studio
• Community Contribution — Hovells Creek Linear Park/Kevin Hoffman Walk, David Martin
• Cultural Heritage (Award of Excellence) — Avalon Corridor Strategy Cultural Values Assessment, Wadawurrung Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation, City of Greater Geelong, Wyndham City Council & Unearthed Heritage Australia Pty Ltd
• Cultural Heritage — Wesley Place, OCULUS
• Gardens (Award of Excellence) — The Healing Garden at the Heide Museum of Modern Art, Openwork Pty Ltd
• Gardens — Cliff House, BWLA
• Gardens — Fitzroy Bridge House, Robyn Barlow Design
• Health and Education Landscape (Award of Excellence) — Bendigo Kangan Tafe Redevelopment, SBLA Studio
• Health and Education Landscape — Woowookarung Dementia Friendly Forest and Sensory Trail, Thomson Hay Landscape Architects
• Health and Education Landscape — Monash University – Southern Precinct Landscape, ASPECT Studios
• Infrastructure (Award of Excellence) — Bell to Moreland, Tract
• Infrastructure — Toorak Road Level Crossing Removal, ASPECT Studios
• Land Management (Award of Excellence) — Lake Tyers (Bung Yarnda) Camping and Access Strategy, Parks Victoria
• Landscape Planning (Award of Excellence) — Yallock-Bulluk Marine and Coastal Park Access and Infrastructure Plan, Hassell Studio
• Play Spaces — Arcadia Dragon Park, Outlines Landscape Architecture
• Play Spaces — Jells Park, Fitzgerald Frisby Landscape Architecture
• Parks and Open Space — New Quay Central Park, ASPECT Studios with SAALA (Formally Stutterheim Anderson Landscape Architects)
• Research, Policy and Communications — The Big Asian Book of Landscape Architecture, Jillian Walliss and Heike Rahmann
• Research, Policy and Communications — City of Melbourne’s Green Factor tool, City of Melbourne
• Research, Policy and Communications — Green Our City Action Plan: Strategic justification for regulatory requirements for sustainability, Arup, Oculus, HillDPA and Junglefy for City of Melbourne
• Small Projects — Monash College Forest Biomes, GLAS Landscape Architects