Winners of 2018 National Landscape Architecture Awards announced

The Australian Institute of Landscape Architects (AILA) has announced the winners of the 2018 National Landscape Architecture Awards.

The awards recognised 38 winners over 14 categories, celebrating leading projects of all sizes across Australia’s regional and metropolitan areas. 

The annual awards program acknowledges how landscape architects are helping to shape cities and towns to tackle the major issues facing people from all walks of life, including an ageing population, climbing obesity and diabetes rates, transport challenges and the increasing importance of positive mental health. 

AILA National Awards Jury Chair Sara Kjaersgaard says landscape architects are fundamental to the health and wellbeing of our communities, which is reflected through the awards.

“The awarded projects are sensitive, thoughtful and ambitious responses to repairing and improving our Australian landscapes. This is of critical importance at a time of increasing urbanisation and climate change.”

The awards reflect the broad scale of projects designed by landscape architects. Projects celebrated included the Sunshine Coast’s Palmwoods Town Square, through to smaller projects like the Ian Potter Children’s WILDPLAY Garden and the Darebin Yarra Trail Link.

The awards coincided with the 2018 AILA International Festival of Landscape Architecture: The Expanding Field. The Expanding Field celebrated the great diversity within Landscape Architecture practice, promoting the critical role the profession has in confronting and contributing to the social and economic challenges of the coming century.

The Expanding Field Creative Directors, TCL, say the social and environmental challenges we face are large-scale and systemic, from climate change to growing wealth inequality and a politically volatile climate worldwide.

Landscape architects are, now, more than ever, expanding their skillset to help the world deal with these critical issues.

For more information, head to aila.org.au